I have a nagging feeling that Henry's going to finally shake off the big game demons and come up with a goal or two. I also expect Makelele to disrupt Pirlo more than anyone has to date, I don't think Italy has faced any opposing ball winners of that quality this tournament (save possibly Ghana, which was a little nervous at the start). Gattuso will trouble Zidane a bit, but I think Zizou's crafty enough to get free for a little bit of magic. I also see Ribery as creating some problems for Grosso, who seems to be better going forward than in defending.
I think Gilardino's pace would present more problems for Thuram and Gallas than anything Toni can come up with, and for that reason I would expect Lippi to go that route at some point. Abidal is France's weak link in the back, IMO, and the one Italy needs to exploit.
I think France was due for a little bit of an emotional letdown vs. Portugal even though it was a semifinal, it's nearly impossible to maintain the level they showed vs. Spain and Brazil throughout the knockout stages. They were efficient enough in grinding it out though and I expect we'll see the Spain/Brazil France tomorrow. IMO, France is by far the most gifted squad Italy has faced in the knockout stages (Germany was playing with great energy and emotion in front of the home fans but is not on France's level in terms of talent and probably should've gone out to Argentina) while I don't think the opposite is true.
My prediction, Henry gets one in the middle of the first half, France defends well, and then Zidane puts Henry through f
Bobby, Gilardino looks sharp, Pirlo is as sharp as they come, and Totti hasn't scored other than the penalty vs Australia. Your picks are as good as they come. I'd love for Del Piero to score but I won't tear my clothes if that doesn't happen so long as Italy wins :)
Italy scores in first 5 minutes, Cannavarro header from a Totti corner.
France equalizes in the 20th minute, Ribery to Zidane to Henry, round the keeper and in.
Half time: 1-1
55th minute Italy go ahead with a Luca Toni special, he smiles the ball in to the old onion bag!
70th minute France counter through Viera passing for the rushing Henry, Materazzi can't get the ball so brings him down, Zidane converts the penalty. 2-2
Italy hits the bar through Del Piero, France hold on.
88th minute Wiltord collects from Trezeguet (both on as subs) and hits it first time past Buffon - game over.
3-2 France
What we might get:
France score in the 37th minute and frustrate the Italians through the rest of the game, as well as 3 billion viewers..(Italy could be the one to score, it doesn't matter!)
1-0 SNOOZEFEST
Lets hope not.
Cheers Rich
Last edited by richlancaster on July 8th at 11:06 PM.
Thanks for your wonderful coverage --if you want to start Ticket To S. Africa on Monday that would be fine with me!
Random & funny moment on Ticket To Germany tonight: Sir Geoff Hurst wiggled his left ear just before he said that teams "play cat and mouse" --I hit rewind a couple times on my tivo to make sure I wasn't imagining it! I read somewhere that people used to be able to #### up their ears but we lost this ability over time. It's nice to know that Hurst's ears are as nimbly gifted as his feet!
Last edited by PamLovesSoccer on July 9th at 1:02 AM.
It's 2 am in Los Angeles. I rejoined my friends at La Poubelle for drinks. Belgian beers. The whole place was abuzz with talk of the greatest game ever.
My best friend, a Frenchman, invited me to watch the game with him, but I politely refused. I will watch it with my fellow Italians. Next to our table were three men, a Frenchman, an Italian and a Tunisian. You can certainly guess what they were talking about. I ended up exchanging comments with the Frenchman. What started as rivalry ended up in friendship. There is great mutual respect between France and Italy. We know each other all too well. We parted wishing each other luck. Such is the power of the World Cup, that old rivals become friends. Italy and France are representing the whole planet! May the best team (Italy) win!
This game would be very close to call, but because it has been raining for 3 days straight in Berlin, I think the condition of the pitch should favor Italy. Zidane's skill and Henry's acceleration will not show through on a damp pitch in the way that they would on an ideal playing field. Furthermore, Italy seems like a more scrappy team, which does better with more deliberate short passing than the French. My prediction: Italy 3. France 1. Or, if Luca Toni can get one on net: Italy 4. France 1.
On on ideal pitch, France might have the edge, but not today.
The Italian side are much better divers than France, they will get two PK goals and win 2-0...the Ref doesn't have a chance at catching the italians ...they're just too good at diving.
On second thought, I just had flashbacks of all the 2006 Italian WC matches and there is not one team out there that can match the diving expertise of the italians......Italy 4-0 maybe even 5-0 if its a bad ref.
does C. Ronaldo have italian blood in him??? he seems to be right up there with the italians.
0-0 and p.k. is the most probable result.
Anyway the first to score wins, then the alternative is 1-0. for...whoever you want!
He match is very difficult to predict, because several not technical issues must be considerated.
anyway as i said before, if France pays at its best, france wins; if they don't play at thir best, Italy wins.
The right question is: which france will play today?
the france we saw playing vs. portugal (tired, slow, without much creativity)?
Or the France that played agains Brazil? (fast, brillant and motivated)?
Well I guess that wraps up another world cup. Congratulations to Italy (kind of) Just before the end of time I said to my wife that if it went to penalties then Ital had won. Not because of anything else but I had thogh this was going to be a goalie dual. How wrong can one guy be.
France lost there Zing and there Tiery and then the Coup de Grace was loosing Ribbery .... Call me old fashioned, Call me English ... But for me Ribbery was man of the match
Oh and Zizou ??? WTF ???? The only thing I can think of is that someone must of said something pretty bad to make the old war horse react like that. Sad for an old pro to go out like that. Not aht it hasn't happened before only normally in an early round.
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