FIFA World Cup - Fussball-Weltmeisterschaft 2006

And finally the month long football fiesta came to an end. The final was a batlle between traditional rivals France - Italy and Italy came out champions in an intensely fought match, which was decided in a penalty shoot out. The majestic stadium in Berlin was packed fully, prominent color among the crowd was 'Blue' common to both the teams. Surpirse injury to Thierry Henry put the French men under pressure, and the Azzuris dominated the proceedings in the first half. Zidane scored the first goal through a penalty, but Materrazi made ammends soon and equalised through a beautiful header. In the second half Henry started with his aggressive style and pressed hard for the goal. Ribery impressed in patches, but when Viera left the field due to an injury, Les Blues were a little stretched. They looked as if playing without a plan and were hoping for Zidane to create something. The match went into extra time, and Zidane began playing some beautiful stuff. But he was heavily marked and Cannavaro and Co never gave him any space. In those extra minutes, Zidane was being singled out and there were comments and sledging at him. At one instant Cannavaro brought him down through a vicious looking tackle. In the heat of the moment, he lost his mind and let his anger get the better of him and as a result did that very insane act of head-butting Materazzi. Though videos showed that he was being taunted and was given hard time by the Italian defenders, a player of the caliber of Zidane is expected to deal with it professionally and not loose your mind. That one moment of madness has put a bad remark over his illustrious career. Nobody liked him to exit the stage in this manner.

The penalties are always a Waterloo for the Italians. Prior to this one, they had faced penalties 4 times and had lost all the 4 times. The pityful scenes of Roberto Baggio hitting over the bar in the 94 finals was still in memory of the Italian fans. But this time, none of their players errored. Grosso held his nerve and netted the final one and the nation erupted in joy. Trezeguet who was the nemesis for Italy in Euro 2000 commited the only mistake France could afford and hit the bar instead. So the wheel turned a complete circle and many notions were discarded. Italy finally won a penalty shoot out and emerged as world champions adding a 4th star to their achivement. They now stand second to Brazil with most number of World Cup Titles.

For the other awards - Podolski deserved his Young Player Award, Buffon got the best goalkeeper title (he never let any ball pass through in all the matches, except that freak self goal against USA). Zidane was voted the best player - a status which was slightly tainted with his dismissal. The real winners of this tournament were the Fans. They made it special by cheering and chanting for their teams both inside the stadiums and outside at the FIFA Fan Fest. Kudos to Germany for hosting a very successful tournament, which was managed very well. The huge stadiums, the Fan Fests, the warm welcoming crowds made it all very successful. Now we meet in South Africa after 4 years to start a fresh new battle for world supremacy. Untill then keep singing - Italia ... Italia !

FIFA Weltmeisterschaft 2006 : Zizou .... Allez ... Allez .... Allez

Come Brazil and out comes the magic of Zidane. If you saw the quarter final between France and Brazil, you could not help but be amazed at the skills of Zidane and would have agreed that France were playing like true winners. Before the tournament began, critics had written off the Les Blues. Zidane came out of retirement for the sole cause of keeping the French hopes alive in hunting that all elusive trophy.

When the match began both the teams looked a bit jitterish and not able to overcome their nerves. But 30 mins into the 1st half, Zizou began to spin his magic. His club mates from Real Madrid, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo had no answer to his absolute control on the ball. He was all over the place, making game giving passes and playing with absolute authority. Brazil met their same nemesis of 98 Finals - a charismatic Zidane. In Henry, Viera and Ribery he had perfect finishers. The only goal of the evening, was a free kick in perfection. It was a surprise that Brazillian defenders had not marked Henry properly, and he perfectly timed the volley into the net.

Its a pity that the greatly hyped Ronaldinho could not score a goal in this tournament. Its sad to bid farewell to Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Adriano and group. Now the battle for world supremacy is being played in the neighboured. 4 neighbours Germany, Italy, France and Portugal will fight it out amongst them for the World title. If France continues to play this way - they will be difficult to kept at bay. The coming week holds the answers to it.