I can see yr gripe as you are from Italy, I can choose because my country wouldn't know a soccer ball if it hit them in the head.

My head whispers 'Italy', my heart screams 'FRANCE'!

France has a knack of producing footballers who I like! But a good final will do either way.

Agreed, both teams delivered some great football, playing a bit the same.
Lippi's substitutions in the semi were great : no defender at all, that was classy.
The main differences are : Buffon got shot at more than Barthez and stopped almost everything - this man is awesome.
France's 8 goals were scored by 4 players, Italy scored 11 times by 10 different players (or 12 times by 10 players if you wanna put Zaccardo on the list) - which makes me think that Italians won't feel bad when/if Toni, Iaquinta, whoever, can't do a thing.

Buffon is one of the players on this list I was just looking at: there's no public vote for the Golden Ball, but FIFA have named the shortlist of players being considered as the outstanding player of the tournament (only players whose teams reached the semi-finals are eligable):

2006 FIFA World Cup adidas Golden Ball candidates
France provide a trio of aspirants, led by their lithe, graceful and lightning-quick striker, Thierry Henry. There had been question marks about the Arsenal captain’s performances for Les Bleus leading into the tournament, but Henry has answered his critics emphatically with a series of excellent and often-selfless performances in the lone striker role, performances that have thus far yielded three precious goals.

Also in contention from Raymond Domenech’s camp is the powerful Patrick Vieira, another player who has emerged from a hail of criticism to prove that, at his best, there are few midfielders in the world capable of dominating and dictating a game so expertly.

The last but certainly not the least of the French candidates is Zinedine Zidane. Already a legend in his own time, this most elegant of footballers continues to amaze with his near-balletic brilliance, and there can have been few individual performances at Germany 2006 to match that produced by the 34-year-old in France’s quarter-final win over Brazil.

The hosts, meanwhile, may have bowed out at the semi-final stage, but their refreshingly adventurous approach won many friends outside German borders, and two players in particular caught the eye of the FIFA TSG members. One was Michael Ballack, the captain and a player whose workrate and driving influence in midfield earned him the apt tag of Germany’s lokomotive by coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

Joining him in the reckoning is the man currently leading the race for another of the FIFA World Cup’s most illustrious honours, the adidas Golden Shoe. By anyone’s standards, Miroslav Klose has enjoyed a vintage tournament, with his strength, courage, eye for goal and link-up work with strike partner Lukas Podolski among the most impressive aspects of Germany’s play.

It says much for the quality of Italy’s performances to this point in the tournament that they provide us with a greater number of candidates than any other team, with a quartet of Marcello Lippi’s team having been shortlisted for the honour. There will be no great surprise, certainly, at the sight of Gianluigi Buffon’s name in there, and the Juventus goalkeeper will hope that his agile, commanding and reliably inspirational performances for the Azzurri have been sufficient to see him follow in the footsteps of 2002 winner Kahn.

Italy’s captain, Fabio Cannavaro has, however, been just as important in establishing Italy’s remarkably frugal defensive record – just one goal conceded, and an own goal at that – and the 32-year-old’s faultless marshalling of the Italian rearguard is sure to make him a strong contender.

The composed, creative midfield play of Andrea Pirlo has also been recognised, with the AC Milan playmaker shortlisted for his telling contribution to Italy’s attacking play from a deep-lying position.

Another player who has contributed to the Azzurri cause both defensively and offensively is Gianluca Zambrotta, a dynamic overlapping full-back who has popped up on both the right and left flanks to score and create goals in vital matches.

The final candidate comes from Wednesday night’s beaten semi-finalists, Portugal, and this player can lay claim to having scored a couple of the tournament’s most spectacular goals against Mexico and the Netherlands. Maniche’s contribution has extended far beyond those eye-catching strikes, however, with his biting tackles and forceful running in the midfield engine room a key factor in Luiz Felipe Scolari’s team's march to the semi-finals.

from this article

England have some interest in the final apparantly:

Perrotta follows in England hero's footsteps
6 July 2006
by FIFAworldcup.com

The history of football is riddled with strange coincidences and the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ has delivered another surprising twist of fate with the small town of Ashton-under-Lyne in northern England at the centre of it.

Forty years ago, Ashton's most celebrated son, Sir Geoff Hurst, scored the only hat-trick in FIFA World Cup in England's Final win over Germany. Four decades on, another footballer from the same Lancashire town is bidding for glory in the Final - for another country.

Italy's qualification for Sunday's FIFA World Cup Final in Berlin means that Simone Perrotta, who was born in Ashton to Italian parents, could follow in Hurst's footsteps. Perrotta's parents, Anna Maria and Francesco, moved to Ashton in the mid-1970s to be nearer Francesco's brother. Simone was born on 17 September 1977 and it was not long before he was kicking a ball about in the playgrounds of St Anne's RC Primary School in Audenshaw.

The Perrotta family returned to live in the southern Italian province of Cosenza in 1982 and Simone was to join a local side before being snapped up by Reggina at the age of 13. Spells at Juventus, Bari and Chievo followed until he gained his first cap with Italy’s senior side against Turkey in November 2002.

The irony certainly has not been lost on Hurst, who left Ashton to further his career at West Ham United when he was 13 years old. He told FIFAworldcup.com: "Two World Cup winners from a small town in Lancashire, who would believe it? I don't know too much about Perrotta but understand he wants to finish his career in England. Perhaps my old club West Ham should put in an offer for him."

"There is no other tournament like the World Cup. Every player wants to play in it and every fan wants to be there," he added. But will Perrotta be able to bring a smile to the people of Ashton just like Hurst did four decades ago? "I think it will be great for Ashton-under-Lyne," he concluded. "As long as he doesn't score a hat-trick!"

Interesting article.

It seems far fetched that he will score a hat trick though. Who knows?

You starting to wish you had a substitution left too? :rolleyes:

Third place games can be fun, and sometimes they can be very boring. Hopefully both Germany (I doubt the home team fans will let them be too down) and Portugal will play a competitive match. In the spirit of the game!

I hope this is a good one.

Nice to see Oliver Kahn get the start. Wide open play. Germany played their best game of the tourament.

Great finish by Nuno Gomes.

Bigger fish to fry tomorrow.

That was entertaining, and how nice to see Nuno Gomes not only appear but also score. A nice end to a great day.

Looking forward to tomorrow also.

i watched the game today. i hate that little prick ronaldo.

I had an OK fantasy team day yesterday; Schweinsteiger got two, and my neglected star Nuno Gomes came on and scored, showing why he should have been in the team more often.

Age concerns: Golden oldies: today's winners will buck the trend
9 July 2006
by FIFAworldcup.com

Either Italy or France will today buck the trend and lift the FIFA World Cup™ with a team showing an average age considerably older than any other winners over the past 44 years.

In none of the last ten tournaments have the winners possessed a squad with an average age of more than 28. Today’s two line-ups are expected to pass that mark comfortably. If they are unchanged from the teams that won their semi-finals, France will emerge from the Olympiastadion dressing-room showing an average 30 years and 0.5 months (oldest player Fabian Barthez - 35 years and 12 days; youngest: Frank Ribery - 23 years and 3 months) and Italy 29 years and 7 months (oldest: Marco Materazzi - 32 years and 10m months; youngest: Andrea Pirlo - 27 years and 1 month).

The last winning squad with an average age of more than 28 was way back in 1962 when Brazil triumphed in Chile with a party with an average of 30 years and one month, 17 months older on average than the next oldest squad.

Since then the average age of the winning squads has been: England (27/01); Brazil (25/02); Germany (27/03); Argentina (26/03); Italy (27/04); Argentina (26/10); Germany (27/09); Brazil (27/11); France (27/04) and Brazil (26/09).

As a comparison the average age of the French squad is 29/02 and Italy's 28/09. That makes France the second oldest squad on duty in Germany - Trinidad and Tobago topping that particular ranking at 29/05. Italy were fifth highest in terms of squad average ages; the youngest squad were Ghana at 25/02

In the heeeeat of the moment.....

...quite! What was going on with Zidane? Bizarre.

My other half and I agreed after 90 mins that if a goal were to come it would come from France, but if it were to go to penalties then the game was Italy's. Admittedly, that was based largely on the idea that Buffon might save a few, which never happened! But Italy did win on penalties.

Has the scandal in Italy, and the fear of lower-league football, farced the players to advertise their services and raise their game? Possibly. A good final, France possibly the better team during normal play, but in an excellent penalty shootout (5-3) it was up to one player to make the error. Ironically, it was Trezuguet, who scored for France against Italy in the 2000 European Cup final.

Sad to see the tournament end!

I am totally shocked by Zidanes head butt! Never thought I would see him do something THAT classless. I realize there was a lot of talking going on between the two, but that was outrageous. Too bad that had to happen.

Way to go Italy (I don't like the sound of that, but oh well). Without a doubt the best team in this World Cup.

Well done grand popo, you annihilated everyone else

I came third, not too shabby. Thanks everyone for playing!

Zidane should get extra points for best.headbutt.ever.

At least it's all over now, Grand Popo won our cup, pokkeherrie took back his 4th place, I'm number 5 and I spent one whole day number one - a long time ago, and it seemed a very long day, with lots of very important decisions to take to maintain my position longer.
It's been much more stressless later on, and quite funny.
Many thanks to our host, johnnywinternoshow.
Do you know why o o o named his team Grand Popo?
There's a joke band (or not a joke band, that's how people who haven't listened to them perceive them) called Grand Popo Football Club. In this band plays TV/radio host Ariel Wizman, whose name can be heard dropped by the loud mouth on the FM transmitted 19-04 Sonic Youth gig, as he attended the show, rather happily. Well that's my guess for his choosing this name.
I'm quite pleased to think that great players with human faces like Zambrotta (who, had he not received a red card against Holland in 2000 might have prevented France to become European champion) & Toni are now World Champions.
Time for me to mention that 3 of my grand parents were Italians.

Congratulations to Grand Popo for an excellent performance throughout. Good picks. My lads, Eternal, started poorly but gained ground towards the end of the first round. 2nd place is cool enough.

It was a fun league to do, and this has been a fun thread to take part in. Cheers, everyone.

i was afraid that the fantasy game would ruin my enjoyment of the world cup (thinking during each entire game of how many points i would get from each action, and hoping that a forward makes a lot of shots on goal but without scoring, because both the forward and the goalkeeper are in my team), but fortunately it did not happen, i still enjoyed the real games without thinking too much of the fantasy game... it's strange that i won this, i was surprised during the whole thing that i kept being lucky and staying first or second...

yes, the name comes from Grand Popo Football Club... i chose this name by chance, i created my team just before the WC opening game and had no idea of a name...
apparently grand popo is a place in Benin:






i thought it was a really great final, but i wonder if i would have found this final that great if i had been neutral.

a lot of drama, in any case... i have thought a lot about zidane's headbutt and i absolutely do not know what to think of it. it's strange to think that this will be his last action as a footballer. the image of him walking out of the field past the cup was amazing. the deposed hero... everything was ready to make him the hero of this night and he nearly destroys it all by himself (right after the good headball buffon stopped, perhaps a turning point), it even looks as if he knew exactly what he was doing...

anyway, it was sad to see thuram cry at the end, he played really well again... also sad for Trezeguet... foolishly i was convinced that he was going to score 2-1 for France when he came in...

from the very start, i had the feeling italy could win this WC... i had the feeling it was the team who would be able to beat Brazil (at the time before the WC when most people were wondering if one team could actually beat Brazil).

i also had the feeling that if it's penalties, then Italy was the sure winner.

i had the impression that France really dominated the whole second half time and the overtime, but then again they did not have a lot of opportunities... and in the end, it turns out France has not managed to score a non-penalty-kick goal since the quarterfinals...

so it's over, now. the city already feels a bit different.
the bus of the french team drove in the street where i work on monday morning (on their way to the airport, i guess), but i only heard the sirens, when i came to the window, it was already gone...

We were talking about the Zidane headbutt in work today, and the thing we all agreed on was the idea that Zidane did not seem to 'lose it' or get angry - it's very calm, deliberate and almost premeditated in appearance. No violence before, none after, no berating the referee.

After years of racial and personal abuse, did he just decide that in his last ever game, he wasn't going to take any crap? It's not like FIFA can ban him, is it? And Matterazzi happened to be the one who was giving him grief on that day.

Footballers are placed in a bizarre and unpleasant situation; every time they go to work they must suffer racial and pesonal abuse, whilst the onlooking ground stewards and policemen do absolutely nothing. If it was an office or factory worker, or even a television presenter (or whatever, really) then that situation would not be allowed to occur. It's a repulsive part of the job, that shouldn't be seen as part of the job.

One thing is for sure. When Zidane announces that he's going to write an autobiography, with a full explanation of 'that headbutt', he'll be absolutely roliing in advance money.

I'm sure you guys already know this, but there is speculation that Matterazzi may have called him a terrorist. This sort of touches on what you were saying Hip Priest. This does not justify it though.

After being called a terrorist, why use violence to solve a conflict, like a terrorist?

Its a shame it had to happen...

oh man that was a sad sad moment. he let himself be psyched out of the game. wrong move. really. no matter what he was told-- he's playing the fucking world cup final! in a way he lost the game for france. a pity.

I think France was going to lose either way, but it put France in a really strange postion for the remainder of the game.

Honestly, Trezeguet's horribly missed PK is the real downfall.