The Soccer World is Blue and White
Ladies and gents, it will be Italy v. France in the final of the 2006 World Cup. Allez les Blues v. Forza Italia, after the former knocked off Portugal 1-0 this afternoon and the latter knocked off Postcard Wars’ beloved German Mannschaft 2-0 yesterday, which I must admit felt like a knife to the heart.
Italy-Germany was a phenomenal game, back and forth and up and down and seemingly headed for penalty kicks until Fabio Grosso put an amazing shot past a very in-form Jens Lehmann. Germany pushed up desperately for an equalizer in the final minute or two, and Italy found enough space to double the score. Italy was clearly the better team in overtime, though I am not yet ready to claim that the Azzurri were the better team in regulation.
Germany’s World Cup dream ended in tears in Dortmund, but what a run it has been. I’m looking forward to seeing Klose, Lehmann, Ballack and Co. v. Portugal in the third-place game on Saturday. The Germans were exciting to watch and came up against a very good Italian side that got better and better as the tournament wore on — though we could point out that Totti’s penalty v. the Socceroos was a total dive and a total gift. Not that I have an opinion on that.
Postcard Wars was on hiatus when the unthinkable happened and Brazil was eliminated. The French were on point and dominated the Brazilians, who seemed to be looking right past Les Bleus. 1998 all over again.
