The month long orgy of football from Germany has come to an end. The final match provided the result of Italy returning to the stage to collect their trophy and the accolades of the soccer world for the next four years.
In a game that had its moments of great excitement, intermixed with interminable stalling, the Italians survived the regular and extra time tied at 1-1, in order to go to penalty kicks and then for good measure, not only survived but overcame the traditional graveyard of Italian football.
With successful kicks on all attempts, the Italian squad captured the World Cup for a fourth time, with a penalty kick score of 5-3. In past World Cup appearances the prospect of the penalty kick solution has sent Italian teams packing for home without the much desired trophy. Not this time as kicker after kicker, put the ball past French Goaltender Fabien Barthez.
It was a game of many emotions, featuring some fascinating play including spectacular game saving saves by the Italian goaltender Gianluigi Buffon, an Italian goal called back from an offside, a questionable penalty kick call in favour of France and an equally questionable incident against them that went unpenalized as if to even things up.
It featured your usual spate of diving incidents and occasional foul play which tend to detract from an otherwise fascinating sport. There was breakneck speed and spectacular passing and shooting exhibited to excited the fans, then followed by a form of the trap in place from Italy that would make Jacques Lemaire a happy follower of the Azzurri.
France’s magician like captain Zinedine Zidane nearly put the game away with a magnificent header that was deflected away desperately by the award winning Italian goaltender Buffon, who earned every single lira that he’s paid by Italian football.
Then there was Le Incident. In which Zidane used his head in a completely different manner, losing his temper and committing the most heinous of fouls in World Cup History, a head butt to the chest of Italian defender Marco Materazzi, late in the second half of the extra time.
It was a costly bit of self indulgence for the French superstar who not only left his team short a man at a vital point in the game, he also eliminated himself from participating in the much dreaded penalty shoot out to declare the eventual winner. Normally a solid choice to make those kicks, Zidane would not be available to possibly change the course of World Cup History.
One can only imagine what possessed the Frenchman to so selfishly put his team in a poor situation, some suspect that an on field comment from the Italian defender led to the ugly incident that quickly turned the game into a nasty bit of work, a quick google check of Materazzi will show that he’s no stranger to rough play and controversy.
The late minute’s incident will most likely overshadow the Italian victory in all quarters but those Italian, as it may well be the last thing that International football fans will recall of the French superstar who will not play internationally any more. After a remarkable tournament for the elderly statesman (well former statesman now we guess) of French football, it’s a sad end for his time on the international stage.
Frankly, as far as championship matches go this one had its chance to be one for the ages, but seemed to fall off as the game neared its conclusion of regular time, despite the drama of the extra time and penalty kicks to come for victory.
The Italian – Germany semi final of last Tuesday, was a much better example of what the game could be when played to its fullest potential. A masterful display of the sport both offensively and defensively, two teams playing the sport the way it should be played without the ugliness that crept into far too many of the matches through June.
Still for drama there is nothing like a final game, expecially one steeped in controversy as time winds down. Though the idea of penalty kicks to crown a champion somehow seems to be cheating to both fans and players alike, we understand why they do the penalty kick thing to settle things. The idea of a mind numbing ten hour match as teams pass back and forth for hours isn’t appealing. But one wonders why they don’t go to a one goal takes all format after the first ninety minutes, no two halves before penalty kicks, just get to it and play until someone scores and wins the trophy through team work and not through happenstance.
For Italy, the victory will take some of the upcoming sting out of the corruption investigation into Italian Football. An investigation that will most likely see some very high profile teams including Juventas, from which a good portion of this Italian team came from, relegated to the lower echelons of Italian football in suspension.
For the legion of fans worldwide that live and die Azzurri, Sunday was a day of great celebration. In Italian neighbourhoods across North America and worldwide, the joy quickly spread as the transplanted sons and daughters of their homeland celebrated as though in Rome
Locally fans of Italia took to the streets immediately following the match to fly their flags, honk their horns and gather at Prince Rupert’s City Hall fountain to celebrate the success of their now favourite sons. With gas registering in at 1.17 a litre in Podunk, it’s a testimony to their love of the result that they filled their tanks and drove around town for hours to celebrate Italia’s return to the top of the football pecking order.
As the final car headed for home, the sun set on another World Cup, one filled with many stories some fascinating and some probably a little frightening to those that control the game through FIFA.
The sport offers the world a chance to come together like few other sports can do, seemingly the entire planet had become attentive to all things football, cheering on a surprising Australian squad and hoping against hope that tiny Cote d’Ivoire or even smaller Trinidad and Tobago (TNT to their newfound friends) might somehow slay the soccer Gods.
The next world wide match of importance will come with the 2008 Beijing Olympics when soccer next takes to the World stage, but even that Olympic event pales in comparison to this month long festival of football that somehow manages to survive its own weight.
The football world next gathers in force in South Africa in 2010 for the next World Cup, a new crop of football players to entertain and enthrall; a new batch of stories for the world to follow.
And after today a championship for Italy to defend!
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