The key to winning the Final will be in creativity and finishing.
Creativity:
France - France is fielding the deepest squad of the entire World Cup. In Thuram and Gallas they have a defensive wall, then with added protection from Vieira and Makelele as holding midfielders. Abidal and Sagnol do a fine job on the sides, and their runs can be destructive alongside the hard-working Malouda. However, all of France's creativity lies in Zidane, Ribery, and Henry, and if they can turn on the heat like they did against Brazil, France looks set to be unstoppable.
Italy - Italy has had a big problem in midfield so far. Totti, acting as spearhead, has done relatively little, at least much less than what he is capable of. He has to step it up. Gattuso is Italy's Makelele, he will be extremely important protecting the defense and winning balls. As for Perrotta and Camoranesi, they give the ball away without much flair. What Italy has that France doesn't, however, is an Andrea Pirlo. This guy is danger. He has the abilities to exploit all of France's weaknesses - sharp passing, creativity, and above all, he knows how to shoot. Pirlo could also take advantage of Les Bleus' set-piece weakness.

Finishing: In a Final that will see very few scoring chances thanks to both teams' strong defending, it will be the team who can put away those chances that will come out victorious.
France - Thierry-ierry Henry. Although Titi consistently scores some 30 goals for Arsenal and has had an impressive World Cup tally, his ratio of shots to goals is not so good. Henry will definitely have to do better, and France is just hoping it won't be a repeat of his performance for Arsenal in the Champs League Final. Saha is suspended, but Trezeguet could come off the bench if the game exceeds 90 minutes. Judging from his performance against Togo, however, finishing looks to be a problem for France.
Italy - Luca Toni did relatively little against Germany. However, he was on fire against the Ukraine, and Italy's chances will depend on him. If Toni turns out to be out of form, however, Italy should definitely not play Iaquinta. What could really hurt France is Pippo Inzaghi. He is not only experienced, but also has that uncanny ability to be at the right time, right place, to score. If Fabien Barthez pulls another mistake like he did against Portugal, this could mean big trouble for France. Even Gregory Coupet has had the Inzaghi Experience. With Milan looking set to bow out of the Champions League Final against Lyon, Inzaghi pops up at the last minute and scores on a rebound. However, this will all depend on Marcelo Lippi's selection, and France may not have to worry about that threat.

Also....subs will be extremely important. Both teams are tired physically and mentally, and the choice of substitution might decide the outcome.
France - If Domenech subs-in Dhorasoo, Boumsong or Chimbonda I will absolutely kill myself. However, most likely to come-in are Wiltord, Govou, Trezeguet, or Silvestre. Italy must not be worried by Govou, he has been absolutely worthless. However, Wiltord could pose a threat, and Italy fans still remember Euro 2000.
Italy - It's Inzaghi. I don't think Daniele de Rossi, Iaquinta, or anyone else will help much.
 

Without Inzaghi, I am predicting France winning 2:1 just because I'm biased.
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With Inzaghi, the scoreline could be reversed.

We sent them home. Now, to all you fools who think Henry is a "swan-diver", may you send yourselves real quick to a mental asylum right now.

Idiot defenders like Puyol and Carvalho have been doing this to Titi for quite a while now - they push, pull, kick, elbow, slap, pinch, and nip at his ankles, dirty little tricks that are too often missed by the referees. Henry is sick and tired of all this crap, I tell you - the man's not a damn machine.

Even Big Phil admitted Carvalho's challenge was a penalty, so to all of you disgruntled Portugal fans out there, suck it up. If the English and the Dutch swallowed their defeats, well, so do you, because your Olympic diving team isn't any more special. Now that you've cheated your way to the semifinals, please understand that those who disregard and bypass the rules of the game always lose at some point, and France's victory was long overdue. To tell the truth, you guys really are better at diving than football.

As for Cristiano Ronaldo and his "ghost penalty", that's absolute non-sense. Sagnol puts his hand up, Ronaldo falls. What did Ronaldo have for lunch today? Is it really that windy in Germany? Or perhaps the grass is extremely comfortable?

There is no point in blaming the referee, the French players, or the rest of the world for Portugal's failures. Ronaldo can whine all he wants, but I don't really want to know what's going on in that little brain of his. The fact is, Portugal was beaten by a better team, and there's nothing more to say.

France 3:1 Spain ... Message to Aragones: Stick to bullfighting, please.
Day 1: Aragones calls Thierry Henry "una mierda."
Day 2: The French team is verbially abused by Spanish fans en-route to the stadium in Hanover.
Day 2: La Marseillaise cannot be heard - there is tremendous booing and whistling from Spanish fans. Talk about no respect.
Day 3: A casa, a casa!!! Mama, te quiero! WAAAAA!!!!!
Day 4: Aragones wishes he had a player like Titi
Someday in 2010: Spain gets kicked-out of the World Cup again.

France 1:0 Brazil ... Did somebody say Ronaldinho?
Defending world champions Brazil, with its "magical quartet" of Ronaldinho, Kaka, Adriano, and Ronaldo, was the uncontested favorite of this quarterfinal clash. Having conceded just one goal and scored ten, Brazil looked set to clinch a record sixth title.
And France? Well, they were riding a wave of confidence after having sent Spain home (3:1), but what could grandpa Zidane and Thuram do against such a mighty Brazilian team?

The result was, simply, an all-around thrashing. Zidane displayed the old magic left in him that made Ronaldinho - also a World Player of the Year - wish he were back in Brazil playing indoor and making Joga Bonito ads. "Never grow-up, my friends," to echo Eric Cantona. The defensive shield of Vieira and Makelele had no trouble containing the speedy Kaka and persistent Juninho. Lilian Thuram and William Gallas, meanwhile, could have gone around the stadium taking autographs instead of marking Ronaldo...the latter never moved. Henry's lone goal in the 57th minute, and the 1:0 scoreline, was all too flattering for the Brazilians.

France vs. Portugal ... Message to Christiano Ronaldo: Didn't know it wasn't only the ladies who liked your sexy wink, but also your damn coach.
Portugal has been the ugliest team of the tournament, even with that jewel of theirs, Christiano Ronaldo. They dive, kick, push, elbow, slap, headbutt, and still manage to make it to the semifinals of the World Cup. That's quite an astounding feat, considering they've left teams such as Holland and England rotting in the dust. And yet at some point, luck runs out.

Also.....
After France gives Portugal a good spanking, expect a mass-exodus of Portuguese players from the Premierleague, with golden-boy Ronaldo leading the pack.

Old Warriors

It has been eight years now, since that memorable evening when Emmanuel Petit slotted a left-foot strike past Brazilian goalkeeper Taffarel and all of France erupted hysterically in celebration of their first World Cup triumph. In these golden years of French football, a previously unheralded squad had beaten the odds and vanquished the world in style. A 3:0 thrashing of pre-tournament favorites Brazil in the final, coupled with a brilliant 2:1 victory over Italy two years later, confirmed France's newfound status in world football.

This time in Germany, "Les Bleus" are outsiders once again. Just as in 1998, they have been grouped with a European outfit that has not qualified in 12 years, an African debutant, and an experienced team hailing from Asia. But the similarities do not go much further. No longer are Les Tricolores playing on home soil; no longer are we seeing the eager, victory-lusting squad that had once claimed invicibility. Instead, those decorated and embattled veterans of the '98 campaign are here in Germany to have one last go. Patrick Vieira, Zinedine Zidane, Fabien Barthez, David Trezeguet, Theirry Henry, and Lilian Thuram are all about to write the last chapter in the rise and fall of France's glorious empire.

Raymond Domenech has succeeded in uniting the French team. The bickering Robert Pires, Nico Anelka, and Ludovic Giuly have been left out for purely disciplinary reasons, and he has managed to create the deepest squad to grace the World Cup: The defense is second only to England's solid quartet - add Makelele and Vieira as a defensive shield and you have a veritable fortress; in attacking midfield "Les Bleus" possess an aging but still-sharp maestro in Zidane; and Domenech is spoiled in attack, as he is able to choose from Henry, Trezeguet, Louis Saha, or Sylvain Wiltord. And after finally finding comfort in their 4-4-2 formation against Denmark, with Saha pairing Henry in attack and Sagnol and Abidal moving along the wings to support the attacks, "Les Bleus" once again look like serious contenders for the world crown.

What France lacks, however, is a fast, bold playmaker a la Michael Ballack or Frank Lampard. Seldom do any of the players go on long, mazy runs, or carve the opponent's defense with brilliant passes, and because of this they lack creativity and France's game becomes predictable. Zizou is old, and so his build-up play is slow and unaffective. His passing is still there, along with the masterful control, but no longer does he boldly embark on solo efforts. This lack of creativity could without doubt be the hubris of Domenech's outfit.

The answer to this problem is the new gem of French football, Franck Ribery. Not so much Ronaldinho-creative, nor with the vision of a Zidane or a Pirlo, but Ribery is not afraid to run at defenders with the ball at his feet. In recent games (his only three international caps) he has proved that he can give the squad the necessary spark, and the "supersub" position suits him well. In the last two games, Ribery has been instigator of 3 out of the 5 goals scored.

Lesson Learned

France arrived in Korea/Japan aiming to defend its world title. Just a year before the tournament kicked-off, Zidane and co. had proved that they were still the team to beat by winning the Confederations Cup, beating co-hosts Korea 5:0 and Brazil (one more time!) 2:1. Yet the circumstances for 2002 could not have been worse for France. On paper their opponents looked somewhat easy: but Denmark's wounds were still fresh from two defeats (2:1 in '98 and 3:0, Euro 2000) and nothing would have been sweeter for the Danes than to knock the world champions out of the first round: Senegal, having qualified for the first time in their history, possessed a strong, dynamic squad that had nothing to lose; and Uruguay, biggest losers from South America since 1950, were looking to impress after missing out on both USA '94 and the 1998 World Cup.

At the same time, expectations for "Les Bleus" to send everyone packing and win for the second time in a row were tremendous. A long and grueling European season did not help to the cause, either. Robert Pires, who had arguably had the best season of his career, cruelly missed-out due to a career-threatening injury. Even those who did make the trip to the Far East, such as Zidane and Djorkaeff, were on the verge of being sidelined. The last thing needed was to lose the opening game 1:0 off a goalkeeping error against ex-colony Senegal. France caught the plane home faster than anyone else.

This tragic ending to ambitious aspirations was not felt only by the world champions, but also by heavyweights Portugal, Argentina, and Italy.

This time in Germany, however, four years after falling victim to the underdogs, these nations have already shown that they have learned their lesson. Argentina never lost control of the game against the Ivory Coast and ran away 2:1 winners. Portugal could've had more goals but spurned numerous chances and had to settle for 1:0 against their own ex-colony. Italy comfortably beat Ghana 2:0, and constantly wrought havoc on the Black Stars' weak defense. There were no shocking repeats of Senegal's heroics, no case of USA going 3:0 up before half-time against la creme de la creme of European football (in fact, they were blown away 3:0 themselves against the Czech). This only shows that awareness amongst the big guns has grown tremendously. Were "Les Bleus" to trip against Korea and Togo, France would need some serious soul-searching.

France 0:0 Switzerland

France's opening game was deja vu. It again consisted of France keeping majority of possession but missing clear-cut chances, and the Swiss taking few but good opportunities from set-pieces. However, this could easily have been avoided had Domenech kept faith to the 4-4-2. Perhaps the repercussions of Cisse's absence were still being felt. Perhaps it was the heat, perhaps it was the bad conditions of the pitch, as Henry claimed.

Yet the 4-2-3-1 used in qualifying had never really worked well. Henry is not the type of striker who runs alone with the ball. He always needs someone with him. At Arsenal, his goal ratio is overwhelmingly greater when Adebayor or Van Persie are at his side, than when he wanders alone waiting for a Fabregas long ball.

And so for some odd reason, Domenech threw a tried and tested formation to the wind and instead opted to play Ribery in the starting eleven, another fatal mistake. The youngster often suffered from match anxiety due to his inexperience at international level, as evidenced in his poor back-pass to Henry when he only had the Swiss goalkeeper to beat. Ribery gave thrust to French attacks, but the finish was not there. Malouda's ability to create space, coupled with his cool finishing (goal against Mexico), was sorely missed.

Most intriguing of choices by the manager was without doubt the substitution of Saha late in the game. After an energetic first ten minutes of the second half, France seemed to run out of steam and began giving away possession. That was exactly when Saha should've been substituted-in, to give France more drive, more control, more dynamism in attack. But the switch came only after Zidane looked tired and unable to feed the offense with his smart passes, like he had done so countless of times earlier in the game. By then the game was over, and Vikash Dhorasoo's late  miss only rubbed salt in French fans' wounds.

My man of the match: Claude Makelele (FRA)

Looking ahead

"Les Bleus" have to regroup and focus on their clash against Korea. Assuming the game against Togo will be an automatic three points, it will be this game that will determine leadership of Group G, or even qualification as runner-up.

If Domenech reverts to the magic 4-4-2, this squad may go far in Germany. Beat Korea, beat Togo, beat Ukraine in the knock-out stages, then add a little bit of luck....who knows what could happen next?

Even with a quarterfinal or semifinal loss, Zidane, Henry, Thuram, Barthez, Trezeguet and Viera would close a great episode of French football. Succeeding them would be a new generation of talented "Bleuets", a group that has already proved itself amongst the elite of great talents in Europe. In four years' time, in Africa 2010,  the likes of Jeremy Toulalan, Lassana Diarra, Rio Antonio Mavuba, Jeremy Berthod, and Florent Sinama-Pongolle will carry the standards of France. And of course, perhaps some of our beloved sons of '98, the last survivors of those glorious days - Henry, Vieira, Trezeguet - will still be around to lead them by example.