« Germany takes third and a little trivia for ya | Main | Five thoughts from the TRN Kickoff Classic »
A minute-by-minute breakdown of the World Cup
July 9, 2006And then there was one. After 30 days and 63 soccer games, Italy-France should punctuate what has been an entertaining 18th edition of the World Cup.
I’m hunkered at home in front of the TV, ready to write compelling views from the same couch I’ve spent most of the past month implanted in.
And I’ll pick France to win, which = an Italy victory. I’m a sucker for fairytale endings, and Zinedine Zidane’s storyline is too good to root for.
12:25 — Nice video montage by ESPN covering the best goals and moments of the tournament. No inclusion of Argentina’s Maxi Rodriguez, whose blast versus Mexico may be the best one in the Cup thus far.
12:31 — The one reason you can’t be truly sorrowful this World Cup is ending: No more Julie Foudy. How am I going to get my useless soccer analysis fix now?
12:33 — Every little theme that this World Cup has is accompanied with a U2 song - the “official music group of the World Cup.� Can I make a suggestion for South Africa 2010? How about those back-up African tribal singers on the Paul Simon album “Graceland.�
12:37 — A comment I’ve been meaning to make. Why is Jose’s mom so mean? This poor kid is playing the game of his life with some all-time soccer greats in his backyard, and the mom yells at him to come home. He can clean his room later. Let the kid play.
12:45 — My friend John just called with some of the best news of the week. He read somewhere that the U.S. could land the World Cup in 2010 if South Africa doesn’t get everything together soon. That would be awesome.
12:52 — The ever-so-gracious wife was kind enough to pick up lunch for us from Wing Stop, a favorite of mine. Soccer and wings, it’s hard to top that.
1:01 — Thierry Henry goes down with what looks like a small concussion. Not a good sign for Les Bleus. Now who’s constantly going to stand in an offsides position all game.
1:06 — France is awarded a penalty kick for a takedown in the box. Let’s go to the replay to see if it’s deserved. WHOA. Florent Malouda didn’t even get touched. Hope this won’t determine the outcome of the game.
1:07 - Zidane has given France a 1-0 lead. What guts he has to chip it past Italy goalie Gianluigi Buffon.
1:13 — I’ve decided not to feel too bad for Italy on the PK call. This is the same team that invented diving, and they’ve already benefited from one bogus call against Australia. What goes around, comes around.
1:19 — And we are tied up at 1-1 on a great header by Marco Materazzi. Italy’s defense continues to produce in the offensive third - their back four have scored more goals than they’ve allowed.
1:25 — Henry is playing well, but I’d be willing to bet 10 bucks he won’t remember this game afterward. Take it from a guy who stubbornly played through two concussions. I barely remember one of the CAT scans hours later.
1:31 — The wife posed a perplexing question. Why does Italy don blue jerseys when their team colors are green, red and white. I’m stumped. Any answers?
1:35 — Great tackle by Lilian Thuram on Luca Toni during a close scoring chance. Toni then almost scores by heading the corner kick off the crossbar. The Azurri are really pressuring now.
1:38 — The apartment is officially a crazy house. The sister-in-law just dropped off her new Siberian husky puppy for the afternoon. For those keeping score at home, we have a puppy, a psychotic cat and a happy-go-lucky, 75-pound German Sheppard. I’ve invoked a no-licking rule.
1:40 — Henry can’t be feeling well. He hasn’t been offsides once yet, after being flagged 159 times in the first six games.
1:42 — Scratch that last statement. Henry’s offsides count: 1.
1:45 — I can’t take credit for noticing this - my friend Trey Reed first discovered it. But doesn’t France coach Raymond Domenech remind you of Ben Stein (as that dry Economics teacher) in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
1:46 — A bad throw-in. Kind of reminiscent of those rec league days when the coaches would spend half of practice teaching squirmy 7-year-olds how to throw in the ball, only to see about 50 infractions during the games. Come on Tommy, keep the feet on the ground and throw it straight over your head.
1:48 — We’re tied 1-1 at the half. Nothing too special, although Italy looks to be the better team, but not by much.
2:04 — France has never lost in any tournament final. Quite interesting. They’re also 4-0-2 against Italy in their last six games.
2:08 — Italy is making things happen on its set pieces. If you’re French, you can’t feel comfortable watching any corner kicks or free kicks.
2:10 — France is coming alive offensively. They look like the most dangerous squad. If only Henry would just shoot instead of dribbling in the box.
2:12 - Malouda is taken down in the box this time, and no call. Should have been a penalty kick. Now it’s evened out. Glad to see the referee not award a penalty kick on this play.
2:14 — Huge loss for France as midfielder Patrick Viera goes down with what looks like a hamstring injury. He’s been one of the better players in this World Cup.
2:17 — Paging Italy’s Francesco Toti. Where are you? Thanks for showing up in the biggest game of your life.
2:20 — GOOALL - hold on. Offside Italy, on a set piece even. It’s a borderline call, but I’m going to give the linesman the benefit of the doubt.
2:23 — Does Franck Ribery ever stop running? I’m starting to sweat just watching him. Or maybe the spicy wings are getting to me.
2:29 — There’s usually nothing flashy about great defense, but watching Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro shut down forwards is like watching a genius at work. He’s always in the right place at the right time.
2:30 — President Bill Clinton is in the house tonight. There’s probably some joke to be made about this, but right now, I got nothing.
2:38 — It looks like we’re headed into extra time. Eleven minutes to go, and France is still looking like the better bunch this half.
2:40 — Now Zidane goes down holding his shoulder. Hopefully this isn’t the last we’ve seen of him. Yep, he’s back on. The sound of “Phew� can be heard all the way across the Atlantic Ocean.
2:42 — Coolest nickname of the tournament goes to Italy’s Gennaro Gattuso - “The Snarling Dog.� Unfortunately for the Italians, I think Fabio Grosso’s name is still the lamest.
2:50 — We’re headed to extra time. Please don’t go down to penalty kicks. Please. Please. Please.
3:03 — Both teams are running on fumes. France has the luxury of two more subs, though.
3:05 — Ribery had the best chance in the last 30 minutes. Now he’s subbed out, and they’re bringing David Trezeguet on, meaning they’ll have two forwards. Ribery came out of nowhere to play a wonderful World Cup.
3:09 — What a save by Buffon, knocking Zidane’s header over the post. How that didn’t go in, I’ll never know. Buffon continues to have an amazing World Cup too.
3:11 — Now we’re headed to a second overtime still tied. And I’m tired of hearing about that disallowed Italian goal. The guy was barely offsides. It was a good call.
3:13 — Henry is out in the 106th minute. I may have missed one, but I’m astonished the forward was offsides only once. Has to be a personal record.
3:17 — Holy crap. Zidane just violently head-butted an Italian in the chest. What’s he thinking? He should be ejected. Unfortunately, no one saw it.
3:18 — I take that back. Apparently, a linesman did see it. It’s a shame, because this is how’s Zidane’s final game will end. He’s a classy player, but what he did was deplorable. That’s a huge blow for France. Now can Italy score with the man advantage?
3:20 — I still can’t get over the ejection. It’s like Michael Jordan getting tossed because he threw a punch in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Wow. Zidane is the team’s best penalty-kick taker too, so this will have an impact if we go to PKs.
3:27 — Unless somebody scores a miracle goal in the last two minutes, we are headed to penalty kicks. Italy has to have the edge with Buffon in goal. I’m one of those who doesn’t trust French goalie Fabien Barthez.
3:30 — Bring on the PKs. The only other World Cup to be decided this way was in 1994 when Brazil edged out Italy. That game ended 0-0; at least we’ve seen a couple of tallies in this one. Italy is 0-3 in penalty kicks, however.
3:33 — Here we go. For the World Cup title:
Italy: Andrea Pirlo rips it right down the middle as Barthez dives to his right. Make
France: Sylvain Wiltord ties it up with a great strike in the left corner. Buffon dives right. Make
Italy: Materazzi barely slips it by a diving Barthez. Make
France: Trezeguet hits it off the crossbar, no good. A costly miss. Miss
Italy: Daniele De Rossi bangs it home on an unsavable shot. Italy up 3-1 now. Make
France: Eric Abidal calmly gives his team hope, as Buffon dives the wrong way Make
Italy: Alessandro Del Piero punches it in. Barthez hasn’t been close to any yet shots yet. Make
France: Willy Sagnol keeps France alive, rifling one in. Now France needs a stop. Make
Italy: Grosso gives his team the title, as Italy wins on PKs 5-3. Make
3:42 — Italy is king. They’ve won their fourth title. I have no problem with the Italians winning, but I’ll admit France was probably the better team in this one. And what happened with Zidane is just so sad.
And to think, it was witnessed by a billion people. That sucks.
Posted by at 6:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
