There’s a reason why this franco-german cutie is here: Because I couldn’t find a good Italian cutie. Shocking.

So that was it. It’s finally over, and Italy is a fair winner, all in all. They were not the best team, the most dangerous or even the nicest to watch, but they were pretty regular through all the cup. And they killed everyone with that.

Wish I could go to the common place and they were the best defensive team, but can’t even do that either. When you look at it, this a pretty offensive Italian squad, and despite having a rock-solid Cannavaro and not receiving many goals at all, you never really got the feeling that they were playing as defensively as you would expect from Italy. Other squads from previous cups were far worse in that regard.

So, of the favorites, they were one of the least likely. Along with France too. But they both got there through perseverance. There must be a lesson there, somewhere.

Anyway…

France 1 – Italy 1 (Italy wins 5-3 p.s.o.)

A good final game, intense for at least 90 minutes. They both tried, and worked, with recovery and offense in the middle, but they fizzled more and more as they approached the rival’s goal. Not only there were very few clear plays in front of goal, but they also had to deal with their own inadequacies in the first half, and their tiredness from the second half on.

Both were defensively spot on, with France turning that defense into offense a little bit quicker overall, but Italy stronger in the back, and winning the aerial plays all the time. In essence, it was the encounter of two very, very similar teams, with different styles of play. It was just too evenly matched.

There’s really not much to comment on. Just some quickies:

- Totti kept trying to play everything first touch, and was well-substituted. He never really got in the game as Italy’s conductor. As he should have been.
- Henry never really appeared through the cup, and he didn’t appear today either. A disappointing showing all around. Or perhaps it was us that were expecting too much to begin with.
- A frustrated Zidane loses his temper and gets correctly sent off. It was very odd to watch, and not the type of ending to a career that we all would’ve like to see.
- I think the ref was correct in most calls. A good showing. He did have that tendency of his to just wave play on sometimes, but that’s how he is. He was certainly up to the challenge in all the big calls, perhaps with the exception of the PK to France, which was difficult to spot and I’d like to see again myself.
- France did get the raw end of things with two important losses: Vieira due to injury, and Zidane due to stupidity. Regardless, it wasn’t felt that much, since by that point both teams were dead tired and were doing what they could.

In any case, it’s over and there’s not much to say. I would’ve like for the final game not to be decided by PKs, but on the other hand it was a much better final than in ‘94. Now Italy are the winners, fair winners overall I think.

Man of the Match: I guess Pirlo (ITA). Didn’t show much, but was an adequate conductor when Totti couldn’t (which was all through the game). I also liked Camoranesi in the first half, but he went MIA during the second period.
The good: Now we get four full years without having to hear an Italian complain about something.
The bad: 4 years until 2010… what the hell am I supposed to do now?