World Championship Finals to be held in Berlin on Sunday
In two days, the world will witness the main sporting event of the past four years. On Sunday evening, the teams of Italy and France will determine which team on planet Earth plays the best football on the Olympic Stadium field in Berlin. The final match will be the last touch of the World Cup - not the most spectacular in recent decades and gaining momentum very slowly. To see how the seeds of a bright and intriguing spectacle grow on German fields, the fans had to endure a boring group stage and wait for a much more entertaining playoffs.
Judicial scandals, symbolized by Russian referee Valentin Ivanov, who showed 12 yellow and 4 red cards in a match between the Netherlands and Portugal. The sniper record of the toothy Brazilian Ronaldo, who is now the best scorer in the history of world championships, has 15 goals on his account. The sensational defeat at the stage of the quarterfinals of the Brazilians, in the final success of which, it seems, no one doubted. These and other events will forever remain in the fans' memory and will convince them that the month spent hugging with the TV was not wasted.
The clash in the finals of Italy and France (an exact copy of the main match of the European Championship 2000) can also be considered one of the sensations of the current mundial. Both teams came to Germany overloaded with various kinds of problems, were a step away from breaking up with the tournament after group matches, and were completely unlisted among other favorites. On the eve of the main football match of the year, Izvestia compared its participants by key parameters.
Traditions
Italy They start from the first world championships, in which the Italian team was one of the most powerful, having won the champion title twice (1934, 1938).
France In fact, formed by the current generation of players. The victory in Paris-98 and the subsequent triumph at Euro 2000 will long remain the most striking segment of the country's football history.
Leader
Andrea Pirlo. While Totti's game is capricious because of his windy character and recently healed injury, the brilliant midfielder of Milan comes to the aid of the Italian attack. Shadow dispatcher, managing his partners from a defensive ambush, Pirlo became the main creator of the unforgettable victory of the Italians over Germany in the semifinals.
Zinedine Zidane. Farewell tour of football players, as a rule, takes place with much less brilliance and splendor than artists. The French midfielder leaving football after the World Cup was an exception. Cool matches Zidane against Spain and Brazil, as well as a very decent game with Portugal - the main engine of the French team in the playoffs of this championship.
Stimulus
Italy. A corruption scandal swept the country headlong: Juventus, Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina are a step away from being excluded from Serie A, while former national team player Gianluca Pessotto jumped out of the window and miraculously survived. Winning the World Cup, where referees and rivals are much more incorruptible than in the Apennines, is the first but very significant step to clear the Italian reputation.
France. In addition to Zidane, for several players the final will be the last match, however, not in football, but in the national team. Both mature and very young French players will do everything so that Zidane, Makelele, Thuram and Barthez, who forged fame for the national team, parted with it under the spray of victorious champagne.
Strong link
Italy. Defense . One of the best goalkeepers on the planet, Gianluigi Buffon, who holds the brilliant Cannavaro championship and their slightly less bright partners, is by far the best defense company on the planet. So far, none of the players of the opposite team has been able to score in their goal: the only goal the team Marcello Lippi scored for herself.
France Midfield . The two “pillars” - Makelele and Vieille, runners-up fast and hungry for victory, Malouda and Ribery, as well as the wise old man Zidane supplementing them - a worthy explanation of why Thierry Henry is not bored, despite the fact that there are no more attackers among the attacking players of the national team .
Odds of bookmakers for the final and match for 3rd place. William Hill Data
| date | Match | 1st team victory | Draw | 2nd team victory * |
|---|
| July 8 | Germany - Portugal (for 3rd place) | 1.72 | 3.10 | 4,50 |
| July 9th | Italy - France (final) | 2,50 | 2.70 | 2.80 |
* Result of the main time.
Yuri Dud, Germany