The match Italy - France would go down in history even if it were not the final of the World Cup. Too many things have come together. Zinedine Zidane announced that he is saying goodbye to big football. Together with him, his famous peers gathered to leave the team, who have been its backbone for almost ten years. Francesco Totti said that, most likely, he will no longer play for the national team. And for Fabio Cannavaro, the match was not goodbye (although who knows?), But it became a jubilee - for the 100th time he put on a T-shirt “Azzurra Squadra”. Apparently, this game was supposed to turn into a regular “testimonial” and end in a draw. But it was the final.
He, however, ended in a draw - both in regular time and in extra time. Only a set of gold medals was prepared by the organizers, only one, and therefore had to shoot a penalty. Not everyone, however, - one of the escorts had already been removed from the field. He finished his career a quarter of an hour earlier than planned. His name is Zidane.
But he could become the main character of the finale, and, accordingly, of the entire mundial. And two-time world champion. A few minutes before his removal, Zizu created a real football masterpiece, which almost ended in a goal. He grabbed the ball from his own penalty box, gathered three opponents around him and made a pass into the free zone, from where the French could launch a quick attack. Itself remained in place: forces were already running out. But partners were imported in the center, and Zinedine had to go to the rescue. Again, the ball was delivered to him, and again he did not part with it, until the four Italians went to the selection. And then a pass followed by a free Willy Sagnola, a jerk into the penalty area and a lethal header. And the man who now prevented Zidane from scoring one extra goal in his career should now erect a monument in Italy. This is goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.
Somehow, behind the whirlwind of the championship events, for calculating the tournament layouts, we forgot to say the last “forgive” to those who will not play more at the world championships. And there are many such people as never before. It is unlikely that they will reach the next mundial Luis Figo. Going to rest Cafu and Roberto Carlos. London bookmakers accept bets: who will be next after David Beckham captain of England. The hosts of the current championship after the match for third place are trumpeting with might and main that they have a new team without Michael Ballack. Unless Oliver Kahn was able to carry out humanly - and this is because Germany did not make it to the finals.
Mundial-2006 has turned into a big, but everyday routine. Last match including. The first distinguished Cannavaro, who, however, is only 32 years old and who can still play at the next championship in South Africa. Moreover, the last month he played brilliantly and at the same time did not receive a single card, which for the player his role in modern times is absolutely unthinkable. But it was Cannavaro who made the small positional miscalculation in the episode, ending with the appointment of a penalty kick in Buffon's goal.
Thierry Henry, who, after the injury of Djibril Cisse on the very eve of the championship, remained the only striker in the scheme of Raymond Domenech, but he got the freedom to move along the entire front of the attack, he was near the edge and decided to fight for the ball, which, as it seemed to the Italian defenders, went out of the field. With a slight nod of his head, Henri led them out of this delusion, but it was too late - Florent Malouda rushed into the penalty area with all the ball. He was caught up and even the ball was taken - on the verge, or maybe beyond the foul - and the Argentine referee Horacio Elisondo showed the point. It is possible that the referee was still impressed by the first fouls in this match - extremely tough fouls against Henry and Patrick Vieira, so the Italians themselves were to blame. A penalty was executed by Zidane. He outwitted Buffon, forcing him to jump into a corner. Zizu threw on the goal almost in the center - from the crossbar the ball bounced off the goal line.
For the first time in the championship, Buffon missed from a foreign player (before that moment, only one goal had been at the Italians' goal, and that was Christian Zacardo's own goal), and for the first time Italy was in the role of the acting-out side. To equalize, she took 12 minutes and two corners. Materazzi jumped on pitch Andrea Pirlo and hammered the ball into the net - 1: 1.
There were no more goals scored from the game in this match. Although the rivals persistently sought opportunities to diversify the attacking game, especially the French. If Francesco Totti failed the match, then Zidane was good. But at the beginning of the second half, Vieira was injured, and in extra time Domenech completely replaced the exhausted Henri and Frank Ribery. And then he left, or rather, was expelled from the field of Zidane. It is unlikely that it will be possible to establish for sure what happened between him and Materazzi, but from the outside it did not look very beautiful. Already running back some distance from the Italian, Zizu suddenly turned around and butted his head in the chest. It is not possible to make out in video repetitions on the movement of the lips what exactly Materazzi said in the back to Zidane. One way or another, France remained in the minority for the last 10 minutes.
Surprisingly, even with the player less, the French were more eager to win. But David Trezeguet and Sylvain Viltor, who came out with fresh strength, played together so little in this championship that they couldn’t get a normal interaction - everyone tried to score on their own. Under a certain set of circumstances, probably each of them could do this. But not when the opponent is Italy.
And then the Italians finally managed to break off the long-standing tradition, following which their predecessors never won at the world championships in the penalty shootout. In 1990, the “squadra azzurra” lost a series of 11-meter Argentina, in 1994 - Brazil, in 1998 - France. Buffon did not repel a single blow, but his partners hit accurately, but Trezeguet hit the crossbar. The last penalty was awarded by Fabio Grosso, which was symbolic: in the playoff matches against Australia and Germany, it was his connection to the attacks in the end that brought Italy a victory.
The World Cup will now spend four years in Europe, which, however, was clear after the quarter finals. Since 1962, the champion title has been strictly alternately awarded to representatives of the Old and New Worlds, and at this point the victory score is again equal - 9: 9. At the same time, the Europeans never won outside their continent. And the next championship will be held in 2010 in the Republic of South Africa.
Andrey MELNIKOV