Italy lift World Cup, attention turns to 2010 in South Africa

By Tichaona Sibanda
10 July 2006

Italy waited 24 years to lift the World Cup on penalties after a 1-1 draw with France in Berlin, Germany Sunday in a match that saw French legend Zinedine Zidane ending his career in disgrace.

Zidane was playing in his last professional match before retirement and it appeared his career would end in glory when he scored a penalty after only seven minutes.

Argentine referee Horazio Elizondo had awarded a spot-kick for a foul by Marco Materazzi on Florent Malouda and Zidane showed his experience with a cheeky chip down the middle of Gianluigi Buffon’s goal. The ball hit the underside of the crossbar, bounced 30 centimetres behind the goal line and then sprang up to hit the bar again. But the referee’s assistant correctly signalled for a goal.

Materazzi made amends for conceding the penalty by heading the equaliser for Italy after 19 minutes, climbing above Patrick Vieira to meet Andrea Pirlo’s right-wing corner. But both teams struggled to create clear-cut chances before the end of 90 minutes.

France lost three key players before the game went to penalties as Patrick Vieira limped off with a thigh injury, Thierry Henry was substituted and Zidane was shown the red card for head-butting Materazzi in the chest.

(Zidane’s seemingly unprovoked act has been described in many reports as “a moment of madness”, but there is speculation that Materazzi may have said something to anger him. Zidane has yet to explain his disgraceful action.)

Italy scored all of their spot-kicks, but David Trezeguet hit the underside of the bar for France and Fabio Grosso sealed the victory for Italy on their fifth penalty.

Sports analyst Natty Zvimba says the 2006 World Cup will go down in history as a tournament ‘ruined by referees’.

‘So many yellow and red cards where flushed out unnecessarily and the men in the middle will be known for messing up this world cup. It is in this regard that people should forget about it and look forward to the 2010 down south,’ Zvimba said.

Reflecting on the performances of the 32 teams, Zvimba said ‘Argentina promised, Germany battled, but ultimately it was Italy who delivered.’

‘Our own ZIFA can do the same if they start preparations right away. We’ve got four years to try and grace the World Cup just next door to us. This is the time for the authorities to start grooming players and to set up a coaching structure that would take us all the way to South Africa,’ said Zvimba.