Italy Seeks Revenge Against France

may i say good bye to italy ?

i hope france win this final WC 2006

It is interesting,can Italy find a goal before Zidane knocks them out? Will Lippie gamble on an all out attack?Toni looked exahusted for a persistent campaign.Young,attacking players of portugal could not hit the bulls’eye! Can anyone hazard a guess what goes on in Lippi’s mind now? wish him good luck.

I think the singular trait which deifies Zizou is his uncanny ability to raise his game,feeding on the strength of the opposition. I cannot wait to see him breaking the wall of cannvaro!

Italian defenders know Zidane very well because he has played for Juventus for many years. Mashe: “Goodbye Italy?” Let’s see you on sunday night!!! If I were you I wouldn’t be so confident.

Italy will win, and easily. France have been very lucky in its last two games against Brazil and Portugal. Firstly, Brazil lacked teamwork, organisation and its defence was abysmal when Henry scored – it was inexcusable of Brazil to have only three defenders markig five French players in the penalty box – schoolboys could have scored. In the Portugal match, a more than questionable penalty as Henry did a triple somersault dive gave France a most undeserved penalty. Result for both was 1-0 – hardly goals scored by brilliant teamwork, whereas Italy has scored most of its goals through great teamwork . Italy has a far better defence, midfield, organisational ability, has scored more goals against better opposition. France will lose 3-0.

dear roger, let stay polite ,but your analyse of the french game during the brazil encounter seems a little bit “funny”.beeing not very good at english , i will just comment on your “description” of the henry goal;
“schoolboys could have scored”.
have you seen the speed and trajectory of the ball.
did you remark that henri was in full motion.
have you captured the perfect timing ,the pace , i would say the rythm of this bird flying.

of course, australia is a beautifull land. recently the hype in paris is to culturally acknowledge the greatness of others. a new museum has recently been open . and we have some pieces that australia would be proud to display. so come and see for yourself.
peace to the world.

Without a doubt Italy deserves to be champions of WC 2006. They have proven themselves in the semi-finals which to the football world was undoubtedly a classic victory that no other team can come close in comparison. France on the other hand had it easy. They qualified for 2nd round due to technicality of game points, which they owe to the Swiss. Even the Brazil match was more of a poor performance from Brazil than a great performance from the French side (save Zidane). France has no right to win, only the excuse that Zidane is retiring thats all. In fact, many teams deserve to be in France’s position if thats the case. Italy on the other hand has proven themselves as a classic team which gave us an exciting World Cup 2006 and so done a service to the competition. We have to acknowledge that and give them the credit, along with other teams like Germany, Argentina. France just came into the picture and pick up the efforts and hard work that other teams had left behind. I would consider a disservice to the World Cup and the football world that France should be qualified to be in finals. To me, there are other teams that are more deserving to be in the finals coveting for the title.

You cannot say that France doesn’t deserve to be in the final. They knocked out Spain and BRAZIL, for chrissakes, and while Italy has been more consistent, when France has been at its best it has played magically.

Here’s to a good final on Sunday (but may history repeat itself!)!

If i take your word for it, almost every team deserves to be in the final. At some point in the tournament they shone like champions. Thats why i said before that the Brazil match was more of a poor performance from Brazil than a “great performace” from France, save Zidane. I dont wish to talk about Portugal, since alot of others will tell you Portugal match was not French’s best.

italy will win, for a reason no one has mentioned and i dont understand why. if the two teams find themselves fairly evenly matched on sunday, italy will still have the advantage because buffon is one of the best in the world. its going to take a brilliant shot to get past him, the only goal hes allowed was an own goal. france however.. well they should be worrying about barthez.

RIGHT Victoria, Andrea and Jackie, i agree with you!
FORZA ITALIA!!!

italia campione

credo in dio e credo a gli azzurri

Even though Italy played well in this WC, I still don’t think they can beat France. It will be a close game and France will win.

ALLEZ LA FRANCE!!!

EVERYBODY ON THIS WEBSITE SEEMS TO BE AGAINST FRANCE. GOD KNOWS WHY. IT IS FOR THAT REASON THAT FRANCE WILL BEAT ITALY BY 2 GOALS TO NOTHING.

Hi frenz,

I support Roger’s comment. Italy is by far stronger than France in many ways. Let’s pray for GOD ALMIGHTY WILL that Italy will emerge as the overall victors of the game.

In GOD We Trust.. (USA)

I am for France. Allez France. Beat them cheaters.

In God, we trust. In Italy we don’t. Everybody in Berlin, aside from the Italians, will support France. May honesty in sports prevail.

Hi Amadeus,

Nobody is against France. Let’s be fair and square. And please for goodness sake, don’t get angry with us. It’s alright for us to support our favourite team. If you are so persistent France will win. Let’s hope too. But don’t get entangled.
Cause i do not want to see in Monday’s The Straits Time Newspapers under The Breaking News Column that a young man has plunged down from his office or house, because France has lost terribly to Italy.

Hallejulah

Ganbantte Italy.

You will win (Bee Gees) &
You’ll Never Walk Alone cause you have supporters like me, Andrea,Ciccio,Roger,Louis etc..

If Italy will lose to France i’ll shot myself.

FORZA ITALIA!!

Italy is more of a complete team.

France got ahead because of a penatly shot..that game would of gone to penalty kicks and it would of been anyone’s game.

Zidane has carried the team to the finals, they’re not the same team as in ‘98.

Italy has the talent and if it can stay organized, can beat France IN regulation time.

Italy’s defence has been proven to be one of the strongest in the tournament, not even the mighty Germans hit the back of the net.

Italy is a much different team than what we saw in the ’90’s. They now know they can’t nurse a one goal lead, they have to attack, attack attack and get the 2 maybe 3 goal lead.

Italy deserves this championship, they have proven it.

When I finished watching the Germany – Italy game, I was stunned. I went home from work and I couldn’t believe what they had accomplished….it is Italy’s time to shine.

FORZA ITALIA!!!!

RIGHT SAL, RIGHT ROGER, RIGHT ALL THE ITALIAN SUPPORTERS!
WE WILL WIN,
WE DESERVE THE CUP THIS TIME AND THE WHOLE WORLD IS OUR WITNESS.
FORZA ITALIA!!!

I can’t believe what I’m reading here. First of all, what is this nonesense about France not playing well, but rather having it “easy” based on the others’ sub-par performance. May I just remind you that France beat Spain in a very decisive victory and the game against Brazil was by far some of the best Soccer I have EVER witnessed. Zidane was inspirational and the French Defense was absolutely incredible. Admitedly, the game against Portugal was not their best, but as demonstrated by the many games this world cup, every team has had good and bad performances. May I just remind everyone that Italy managed to get a very debatable penalty at the 93rd minute against Australia, whom I believe was just as good if not better than Italy. Don’t talk to me about having it “easy.” I think it will be a classic game, and in the end France will prevail because of experience and youth as well as a legendary captain who strives on adversity and pressure. ALLEZ LES BLEUS!

France has beaten Spain and Brazil.

Which quality side has Italy beaten? An overachieving home town team that lacks top to bottom class?

France wins this one. France is the best team Italy will face in the WC, by far.

France 3 Italy 0.

les bleus,your living in a bubble.Just cause france beat brazil and spain.You think there gods.Sure brazil,and spain looked great on paper.But lets face it,on the field those days.They absolutely played horrible.So no wonder France was able to take advantage,with one man army-zidane.Its funny how you guys want to go on and on about the austrailia game.But yet you dont want to talk bout the ukraine and germany game.France’s tactics,reboundin bartez,henry’s offsides,and one army zidane.They wont make the italian defense sweat one bit.So make way for the italians are coming through

To me, Brazil’s game is no testament to France’s revival (save Zidane). Brazil was sleeping. Portual game also exposed the weakness of France to carry out any damage to a team determined to win. It was by the penalty goal that got them thru.

I’m not denying the efforts made by some players, in particular Zidane. But if we are to compare the team-play of France with other teams in this tournament, we can pick out a few other teams that are more worthy to be in the finals today. France had the luck when they needed most.

We all have the choice to support any team. You may support France because Zidane is retiring. Or because of nostalgia (Old France of 98′ is having its last game before they die etc.). But if i were to take such an attitude, then i would do injustice to other teams who i deemed are more hardworking and effective but lack the fortune which France had. Teams like Germany, Argentina. For based on their tournament performance, they proved more deserving than France to be in the finals. So go ahead and support your French players, no ones’ stopping u. But i’ll stick by my Italian team all the way.

Back in 1966, disgruntled fans threw rotten tomatoes at their under-performing prima donnas when they flew home early after being dumped out of the World Cup by the minnows of North Korea.
What does that tell you about the Italian mentality. Their team has to cheat or they would not be able to revisit Bella Italia.

Brazil my favorite team and soccer for all times. Unfortunately the team had a big disagreement team before the game, they played as individuals and not as Brazilian team, and they performed very poorly in the game with France. I was disappointed and for that poor performance Brazil did not deserve to win that game. To me France did not win that game! Brazil lost it! So France advanced thank-you to Zidane. Zidane is one of the greatest players of all times, amazing soccer player and even better midfielder, he is the heart of the team, France has to make him a statue in France to thank him for taking his country to the Finals for a second time. Without Zidane France will not be in the World cup for another decade or so. So, yes France has a small change of luck thanks to Zidane of wining this game. I have to tell you that the best Team this world cup has is ITALIA why? Because they played as a Team, they are all good balance players and they played as a Team!! Is beautiful soccer we have with ITALIA this World Cup. Viva Italia! They are going to win this WC! Because they have better organization, better defense and the heart and attitude to win this cup. France has Zidane. You need a whole team to win this one. So ITALIA is Wining this Final 2-1 or 3-1, I even think 4-0 after all the weaknesses they show lat game.

We Americans hate the coward Frogs and will be rooting for Italy. Italy has revenge on their minds and have the better team, The Frogs have been lucky and their luck will end with an AZZURI victory…They wont have the home field advantage this time as everybody hats France..

i donot know why peole keep bringing up france beating, brazil & spain how easy was it for those 2 teams to qualify to the second round, they did not have a tough game which leaves me to beleive that maybe they were not as good as everybody thinks.As for france beating those 2 teams hats off to them for beating 2 dare i say it mediocre teams ( it is possible)
So spare me with the wisdom of you french fans italy easily takes it 2-0

Speak for yourself, John. I support the frogs because they play fair.

Italy 4, France 0…Oh wait, we’re not talking about ridiculous dives and overeggarated falls???

Again, who has Italy beaten? They have had by far the most luck in their draw, and they barely scraped by the USA and Australia.

Everyone keeps talking about the vaunted Italian defense, but again, who have they played on the level of France? answer: no one.

France outclasses Italy at every single position and this will be the difference on Sunday.

I hope Italy wins.

Everyone puts them down when in reality the French are so much more arrogant. I can just imagine the smug look on the faces of the French people I work with if France wins. If Italy wins, there will be cheers and laughs (and yes they will be loud) but at least they wont treat us like we are less than them…

Of course, this is my PERSONAL take on the matter. I am sure not all French people are arogant and not any Italians are not… This is only my OWN situation at work…

So yes, I hope Italy wins.

As a final point, Italy has been very classy in this tournament, despite EVERYONE being against them. I say, FORZA ITALIA and hold your heads up tall and proud.

By the way, has anyone commented on these statistics?

So far in the world cup, Italy has scored 11 goals, and France have scored 8.

Of France’s 8 goals, 7 were scored by just three players.

Italy’s 11 goals were scored by _10_ different players!

Which side sounds like it plays with better team work..?

I think one of Italy’s main strengths is short, quick passes and a fluid formation that allow anyone on their team to be able to make a break for the goal.

Plus, there aren’t high egos at stake which would make one player go for the golden shoe award at the expense of his teammates (how many other top players would be able to accept the substitute bench as maturely as Del Pierro??).

Why oh why would anyone bring up beating Spain and Brazil??? What an idiotic thing to point out.

Meanwhile, Italy beats Ukraine (hooray!), Australia (barely and on a bad call) and an overachieving hometown team, and people are saying they will surely beat France?!?!?

Please….

Why are you all saying Italy is a bad team? They have played amazing! Did any of you see the Germany game? I also remember teams like Ukraine beating the super amazing Switzerland team, adn Australia is not an easy team to beat – they were amazing too! (and Italy played the second half with only one player)… and the USA, no one can say they suck… and Czechs are good too and what about Ghana? I dont understand why you are all saying that! Ghana is a much more difficult team to beat, then say, Togo.

France beat Spain – that was amazing! But they barely got out of an easy group (South Korean almost made it instead…)

Doesnt anyone agree with me?

WHAT?!

“who have they played on the level of France?”

WTF are you saying? No one has played at the level of France, other teams have played BETTER.

France hasn’t shown the same speed or talent of the ‘old’ France. This team is simply comprised of recycled players from the past with no youth and hope that is based on a tired old group of men (with the exeption of Zidane).

BTW, it’s “Zidane” not France playing in the final. A big thanks should go out to Zidane for towing the team as far as they have.

Italy has shown class and talent that is spread through the entire team. The have talent, pride, heart, willingness and now confidence to achieve their 4th world cup championship.

FORZA AZZURI!!

Catherine!

Yes, South Korea would of made it instead of France. And Korea was just a point behind France, it was mightly close.

France has beaten Italy every time in each major event…Sunday will be no exception. The French are simply too good as well as being more experienced players than the Italians.

Go France!

Lurch,

beating the Ukraine by a goal is LUCK….clobbering them 3 – 0 show a team with skill and depth.

I’m telling you, it’s a different Italia from what you’re used to watching.

tk,

REFER to my previous reply after your comment…..

:)

ciao!

sc

Not saying Italy is a bad team at all.

All I am pointing out is that the France team has shown more than the Italians (by beating higher qulity teams) up to this point, and there is no basis to conclude that Italy will definitely win.

Also I think France has higher quality at every position (except GK) and that, in addition to experience, will be the difference.

you know, what I’ve said thoughout this tournament is that “ANYTHING can happen”.

It can go either way truthfully…but I’ll be cheering for my Italia!!!

All I hope is that there is no controversial calls… I want a clean game no matter who wins…

you know its funny how all people bashin italy is posted from usa.Lets give up the bashing,your still sour about usa not making it.As italy will march to a 4th cup.Usa is going back playing at their 25 cent supermarket parks.
present valid reasons if your gonna bash.
Lets remember facts here,first off france went scoreless for more games than anybody.Second,italy was already in a tough division beforehand.
As for history,so france did beat italy in euro 2000,and world cup 98.But funny you dont mention Italy beating france in the past world cups.Not once,but twice as well

lurch do you call spain quality? What have they accomplished in their history?
brazil good team 4 years ago, but this yearthey were nothing, arguably in the easiest group, then they play ghana beat them 3=0, 2 of those goals looked off side and the other could be argued and your proud that france beat these teams .
really the italians beat quality teams

So far, France played way better than Italy, which – unfortunately – was only playing decently vs. Germany ;) .
The Italians usually play a boring, gutless game, no fun to watch.

France deserves the win, simple as that.

And could all the North American contributers please go back to hockey, USA football or whatever they fancy, and leave football to those who grew up with it, aka the rest of the world ;) .

“If Italy will lose to France i’ll shot myself.”

Italy, no dramma per favore. Don’t worry, you will win. Your team is all quality.

hey THOM i grew up on football in italy you may be german but probably a band wagoner and by your comments a sucky looser that cannot admit that your country lost to a superior team

viva gli azzuri

Thom
does that mean you should go back to your sausage factory?Lets not get racist here.It wasn’t my country who started world war 2.So dont you dare try to burn north americans

France will win, Zidane may not up his best during the match with portugal, simply because he storing his magic for the final, and not miss it by getting another yellow card.

Go France!

Beethoven’s Ninth is cheesy?

“Zidane…storing his magic for the final”

???

what a load of BS.

Go shot yourself, or bang your head against the wall. But well, please don’t commit sucide when u see france beat italy. History will repeat itself, in 1998 WC finals and euro 2002 as the books has shown.

Hold your breath when zidane play, and don’t get a heart-attack. Take a deep breath and respect the man as how the entire brazilian squad respected him, the greatest player on earth -ZIDANE.

France FTW.

=D

you like history kwang?
italy did beat france as well in a quarter finals.So history can repeat itself as well for italy

Thom..
I know…it sucks…but unfortunately for you we are in the final and you’re just out! So please don’t be ridicolus and admit that Italy played a way better than your team! I has such a graet satisfaction when Grosso scored the first goal…and then Del Piero! We beat you just in front of all your country!What a pleasure!!!
Thanks for all the positive comment about Italy…
Chiara
Italy…just moved to Usa

hy kwang ITALY 2 france 0 how do you like that your greatest so called player on earth will never in his wildest dream ever crack the defense in the history of football

hey kwang i mean the greatest defense in the history of football

wait. im confused kwang. italy didnt play france in the 1998 final. they were in the 1994 final and lost to brazil (aka the only team italy has ever lost a final to). i really dont get what your talking about at all. and i respect zidane as much as everyone else, but its not like the italians dont know how he plays.. he was a juve star.

Notice how the only player any one going for France can talk about is Zidane?

Zidane may be the best player in the world, but he isnt 11 men… 11 talented men!

Sorry France, but you cant just rely on 1 guy to score…

with all do respect yes zidane is a great player, but please he is far from the best donot forget ronaldinho,kaka toni and many more

I’m among those that think Zidane is the greatest player on Earth. However, I don’t know if it will be enough. The whole Italian squad is formidable — not to say that France team isn’t, but Italy is a very dangerous team. It will be a nail biter, for sure, especially with Barthez in goal (though I love the man, I really do).

I want France to win with all my heart, but I just feel like Italy has the edge.

Kwang, I was quoting someone else…OK la.

Don’t worry, I will not need to shoot myself , and I haven’t banged my head since I was an Iron Maiden fan ;-)

Italy has so much quality at every position, and their “ace in the hole” is Buffon, who far outclasses Barthez.

italy will win and zidan will retire go azzurri

Sheeesh, Germany was a crap team and Brazil was the tough team to beat?? I dunno how some of you can even think that?!

Germany looked like a MACHINE, many people pegged Germany to take the Cup this time. Germany PUT UP A FIGHT making it classic match.

Brazil, well, they messed up. It was a group of INDIVIDUAL superstars vs Zidane.

What a great final this promises to be….truly the best two teams made it to the Final.

France scraped through vs. Portugal, but they are still a GREAT team.

Let’s hope we’ll see again the lovely football & great sportsmanship that all the world witnessed in the Germany-Italy semifinal.
(Aussies around here do watch a replay of that match)

May the best team win…..& may the Ref NOT try to be the primadonna.

France will win, definitely. With Henry around, to get a goal or two should not be a problem at all

Italy wins 2 france 1. drawn game at fulltime. Italy scores the winning goal in extra time. 1 goal for Zidane.

France has aged, unlike a fine wine.

I think it’s Italy’s, they’ve earned it. They’re a fine balanced squad.

Sam Gioskos: That sounds like a pretty fair prediction.

I’d be the happiest cat in the world if Italy played the offence-heavy game they played against Ukrain. THAT would give the French a nasty shock!

France played it very well against Portugal, keeping its energy for the final. Not that they did not look tired at the end of the game… They are the oldest team on the pitch!!! But you can imagine that it would have been worse if they kept the same pace after they got to 1-0. From that moment, Portugal couldn’t get past the defence. When Kwang says that Zidane keeps his magic for the finale, he is exactly right!!! Not to mention, the French team had 6 yellow cards to get rid off. Excellent Job, Masterful!!! Maybe our Northern American friends are not aware of the yellow cards rules… mojo_lo you are talking BS! Everybody says BS in these blogs, Brazil is the best then Brazil is crap, Spain is the best then Spain is crap, Germany is the best or Argentina etc. You cannot play at your best in all matches or you will run out of energy from the beginning of the second round when the big teams come on the field. This is the World Cup, not Premiership!!! Italy like France showed their best when they were expected to do so and you can be sure that they will be at their best on Sunday. Make predictions on the previous matches is nonsense. You have to be dumb to think like that. You can compare players but not team performance regardless of the opponent and the match that is played. And when you do compare players, keep in mind what they do best, because that’s what they will do for the final. I would not make a pronostic but I remember that nobody gave a chance to France or Italy at the beginning of the competition. I will support France and I am happy they are the underdogs, that way they will have less pressure. Vive Zidane! Vive La France!

Catherine, in case you do not know there are plenty of world class players in the french team not Just Zidane. Henry best Striker of England (probably of the world), Viera, Makelele, Sagnol, Ribery, are all playing in prestigious european teams. They already have won a World cup and a European cup for some Barthez, Thuram, Zidane and one player only couldn’t have achieved that. Stick to make-up! And all Northern American football beginners, go back to Baseball!

chris. that was an extremely sexist comment, telling her to go back to makeup. you really sound like a chauvanist pig. girls can play football // know about football. and not everyone in north america likes baseball. i for one think its the most boring thing ever. i like playing it, but id rather be shot than watch it. so stop stereotyping. i makes you look really bad, and makes your reasonable and honest comments that i personally agree with easier to disregard when you act like an ass.

France should send their greatest gratitude to Ricardo Carvalho. Why ? Because of his stupid tackle, France was able to win easily.

Before the penalty goal, the game was even if Portugal wasn’t in the upperhand. After the penalty goal, France just sat back and relaxed, saving their energy for the final. If France wasn’t get that early penalty goal, I believe that the match would be extended to extra time and with one day rest advantage, Italy will be the fittest team on Sunday.

I don’t think France have the edge this time, they played a dull uninspired game against Portugal and went through on a penalty shot. The rest of the time they were fending off the portuguese not conserving their energy, I think it takes more energy to play defensively throughout the whole match than it is to play an offensive match. I just don’t feel France have the magic anymore just lucky that their opponents didn’t find the back of the net with that idiot Bartez in goal. I feel Italy are extremely fired up by the semi-final win and all the scandal, bad press and constant critism they receive about being cheaters and so forth. Bad publicity is actually good publicity and it is going to allow Italy to rise above it and do something remarkable. If Zidane isn’t 100% on his game the French are a very mundane team to watch and unfortunately France are playing the “sit on a one goal lead” game and italians should know very well from Euro 2000 that this can cost a team everything. Be very careful France this isn’t the same italian team you faced 6 years ago, this team is actually scoring goals and not allowing them.

turns out ITALY won this year and i just wanna say to the people who were so confident France was gonna win, your stupid and don’t know anything about soccer. Italy obviously had the momentum and fitness to beat this French team. and Zidane did the dumbest thing to end his career for France, poor sport. “football fan” and “go football” knew what they were talking about.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
***+*

For all of you fan of Italy! Here is a little link to your champion Materazzi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpG4AHlZrL4&search=materazzi
Also to say, second half and extra time to France with a definitely fittest and more creative team. Italy played it for the penalty in the second half while France played for Panache. Thanks to Zidane to giv ethis Materazzi thug a good Head Butt! Zidane Golden Bowl! France proud!

I m gonna watch that Head Butt over and over with absolute delight. :) Zidane you are a hero!!!

Zidane a hero? LOL!

What a way to retire! You can even blame a little on their loss.

I “HEADBUTT” your comment!

“INSANE ZIDANE”!

Ah Yes! But there are lots of people with a very different opinion than yours! You cannot headbutt words, don’t get frustrated! LOL! Zidane is golden ball! Best player of the World Cup! France showed the best display! Zidane will be shown in the Football school for the future generations and is the best of his own. One of the rare who has scored in 2 World Cups like Pele. Yes he has a bit of a temper when he meets disgusting thugs like Materazzi. His end had meaning regardless of whatever happened. I wouldn’t be surprised if some racist comments had been made to provoke such a reaction. It was foolish to react like this but hey, this guy gave us a dream and an ideal! Thanks to France to for fighting until the end. The class 98 has been the best team of this last decade and his captain a legend!

The “real Zidane”.

In 1998 Zidane was thrown out of a match for head-butting another player!

Gee I wonder what insults he hurled at poor Zidane?

Then, Zidane was tossed out of another game for stomping on a Saudi Arabian player!

Oh, poor, misunderstood Zidane…tisk,tisk…

Well the world of Football is vicious and we will know for sure what happened some day. You just need to have a look at the Italian calcio at the moment to understand that fact. Until then, there are no reasons to cry for Zidane. rather the opposite. He will come back and get applause. You probably won’t be there but I will.