Italians take the title
After over a quarter century of frustration and futility, Italy wins the 2006 World Cup soccer championship. The Azzurri outscored France 5-3 on penalty kicks after a scoreless overtime period that left the game tied at 1-1.
All five of the Italians converted while David Trezeguet missed the second French attempt when his ball hit the crossbar, putting his team in a difficult position. Neither Frenchman Fabien Barthez nor Gianluigi Buffon for Italy stopped a shot during the shootout. After Fabio Grosso scored the fifth Italian goal, the team and the stadium erupted in jubilation.
The Italians lost on penalty kicks to Argentina in 1990, Brazil in the finals in 1994 and to France in 1998. They also lost to the French side, 2-1 in overtime, in the European Championships in 2000 after leading for most of the game.
It is their fourth World Cup Championship. The others were 1934, 1938 and 1982.
Italians take the title
USAToday's Final Coverage
Italy reigns supreme
Photos from the game
posted by Tony Lanza @ 7/10/2006 12:00:00 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Will you keep writing now that the tourney is over? Do you have a way to watch European soccer on TV? Any predictions on how the Italian calcio scandal will play out?
Yes, I hope to continue writing about the Azzurri. They begin qualifying for Euro 2008 in September so there will be little time off for the national team.
Also, their second game is against the French, in France, in early September. So there will be plenty of drama surrounding that match!
I am able to follow the European matches via the internet at this point.
My expectation is that the four clubs in the scandal will be relegated to Serie B. On Sunday, one of the commentators mentioned that Juventus was trying to strike a deal so they don't drop to Serie C. My question is how will they move back to Serie A. Will they have finish in the top 4 as usual? And what happens to the players and their contracts? Are they free to move around? I guess we will find out later this week or next.
It will be interested to see how all this falls out. I, too, had heard about Juventus falling to Serie C--and I assume that if that happened, the big stars would leave. But maybe Sunday's game and the tourney preceding will have an effect.
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