World champions again....

It's been a long long time. To be precise it's been 24 years since the Italians won the world cup. And this victory is so sweet. I am still coming to terms with the fact that we actually won. It was an amazing match. It started off with france winning a penalty. Which according to replays was no where close to being a foul on Malouda. But neva the less Zizou steps up to take the penalty. Zizou being the inspirational player takes a cheeky penalty that hits the cross bar and bounces inside the line - buffon beaten. Sad as Buffon was lookin at keeping a clean sheet for at least 65 minutes to break the previous record. France 1-0 up afta 7 minutes... The Italians then start to press for an equalizer. Playin some good football they get some shots on goal. then comes the killer blow. Pirlo's corner kick connects with Materazzi's head which zips past Barthez. Italy back on level 1-1.... The Italians play sum amazing football in the first half. But afta the break the french men take the came to the Italiand and Buffon had to make sum excetional saves to keep his team in contention for the Cup. The french then launch a series of attack afta attack and the Italian do what they do best DEFEND! Cannavaro (who according to me should have won the Golden Ball) marshelling his defence to perfection to every wave of attack from the french strick force. the match heads into xtra time. The french still attackin and for once the Italian defence leaves zizou unmarked. The cross comes in from the right, Zizou heads the ball, Buffon comes up with an extraordinary save, the best of the match. That is the reason Buffon is the most expensive goalkeeper in the world. With 10 minutes to go the unexpected happens. Zizou the great head butt's Materazzi in the chest. It's a Red card.... France's insperational player is sent off in his last competetive match. What was Zizou thinkin..... Then the inevitable takes place, PENALTIES. Something that the Italians are not good at. I remember very clearly when they lost on penalties to Brazil in the 94' World Cup. They also lost to France on penalties in the quarter finals of the 98' World Cup. But this time it was different.... The Italians converted all 5 penalties. Trezeguet misses his penalty and Italy are the World Champions for the 4th time. They are now the 2nd most successful team afta Brazil (who have won 5 World Cups). Posted on July 12 2006