JUVENTUS: relegated to Serie B, penalised 17 points + three days of diqualification. (Originally: relegated to B, penalised 30 points)
FIORENTINA: remain in Serie A, penalised 19 points (Originally: relegated to B, penalised 12 points)
LAZIO: remain in Serie A, penalised 11 points. (Originally: relegated to B, penalised 7 points)
AC MILAN: remain in Serie A, eligible for Champions Legauge play. Penalised 8 points (Originally, penalised 15 points)
In addition: Juventus gives up the title for 2004/05 and has no rank in the 2005/06 season. AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina were all penalised 30 points for the 05/06 season as well.
Berlin last night was a split city again, divided this time not by concrete, but by football.
On the one side were the French fans, who rightly felt they had been let down by their hero and captain, Zinedine Zidane. On the other were the Italian fans, still in shock at having finally overcome history to win the Cup on penalty kicks. The sides sat uneasily across from each other as the subway pulled out of Zoo station just after the game. No one seemed sure what to make of the match, and those who spoke talked in low, hushed tones about “Zizou.”
Trouble flared when an Italian fan bumped into a young woman, who was dressed up like a classic French mime. The mime’s hot drink splashed onto the back of the young woman’s leg, and despite it being her fault, she turned around and began yelling at the mime, whereupon the Frenchwoman tossed the full cup of tea into her face. A large crowd gathered and police struggled to break up the chaos.
As the night wore on, however, the mood shifted. When we were finally able to leave the Olympiastadion, we were joined by a rambunctious group of Italian fans who cheerfully taunted their French counterparts with shouts of: “Chi sono i campioni del mondo? Italia!” They then followed that up with a cheer for Zidane, who was clearly already being remembered as the villain of the night. The French fans along the train took this in good stride, however, joining in cheers with the fans for both Italy and France
As we finally left Berlin’s main train station at 2 am, stepping around the fans sleeping on the floor waiting for the next train to anywhere that wasn’t Berlin, we watched a sad young French fan make her way down the platform. Dressed in Gaulish horns and a flowing white skirt — sort of Asterix meets Marianne— her red and white face paint had run down, staining her blue French jersey. She was still crying as she drank her coffee.
...and we sense this is going to be a long 30 minutes. Donovan, McBride and Dempsey are woorking hard up top but Simone Perrotta is finding a lot of space on that left side now.
Arena, for once, is also right to be frustrated at the fine hand trap the Italians just pulled off in the box on Dempsey's last foray.
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