The 2006 FIFA World Cup Final: Itlay Wins Over France In Penalties
FIFA World Cup Final 2006 between Italy vs France:
The 18th edition of FIFA’s national football team competition concluded with the 2006 FIFA World Cup final. Italy and France competed in the match, which took place on July 9, 2006, at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany.
Germany, the hosts, and thirty-one other teams from the six FIFA confederations’ qualifying rounds made up the competition. Following a group level of competition for the 32 teams, 16 teams advanced to the knockout tournament.
Italy defeated France 5-3 in a penalty shootout to win the World Cup after the teams were tied 1-1 at the end of extra time.
Match Analysis
The World Cup final between 1990 and 2014 was the only one in which both finalists scored within the first 20 minutes of play. After concluding that Marco Materazzi had fouled Florent Malouda, referee Elizondo awarded a penalty kick. In the seventh minute, Zinedine Zidane scored the first goal of the game with a Panenka that slid under the crossbar and into the goal.
Materazzi made amends for Italy in the 19th minute by heading home an Andrea Pirlo corner to tie the game. A header from another Pirlo corner smacked against the crossbar by Luca Toni in the 35th minute. The score was tied at 1 at the half.
France dominated the first part of the second half and also called for a penalty when Malouda fell down in the box following a foul by Gianluca Zambrotta. In the 58th minute, Alou Diarra took Patrick Vieira’s place because of what appeared to be a hamstring injury. After Pirlo gave away a free kick in the 62nd minute, Toni headed a goal that was called back for offside. The score was tied at one after ninety minutes of regulation play, necessitating extra time in the game.
When Zidane’s header was crossed in by Willy Sagnol in the 104th minute, Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon made a possible game-saving save by tipping it over the bar. After a just five minutes, Materazzi and Zidane were running up the pitch side by side. After exchanging a few brief words, Materazzi tugged at Zidane’s jersey, which incited Zidane to strike Materazzi in the head, sending him to the ground.
Buffon expressed his displeasure to the assistant referee, who was blind to the change in play. Referee Elizondo stopped play to confer with his assistants when he noticed Materazzi on the ground when play resumed. The referee and his assistants reportedly did not witness what had happened, but Elizondo spoke with fourth official Luis Medina Cantalejo through a headset, and he verified the occurrence.
In the 110th minute, Zidane was then given a red card by Elizondo. Zidane became the only player in history to be sent off in two different World Cup tournaments, joining Cameroon’s Rigobert Song. It was also the 14th total expulsion of Zidane’s career. Not only was he the first player sent off in extra time, but he also became the fourth player to receive a red card in a World Cup final.
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When there was still no difference after extra time, the game went into a penalty shootout. The only player not to score his penalty was David Trezeguet of France, who had scored the game-winning goal against Italy in the UEFA Euro 2000 Final. His kick struck the crossbar, went down, and stayed just ahead of the goal line.
Italy won by a score of 6-3 when Fabio Grosso, who had scored the opening goal in the 2-0 semifinal victory over Germany, converted the winning penalty. Following Grosso’s goal, Marco Civoli, an Italian pundit for RAI, spoke the words “Il cielo e azzurro sopra Berlino,” which translates to “the sky is blue above Berlin.”
Post Match Stats
UEFA president Lennart Johansson, local organizing committee head Franz Beckenbauer, and German President Horst Kohler were among those in attendance on the pitch stage at the awards presentation. Without FIFA President Sepp Blatter present, President Kohler gave the trophy to Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro. A brief rendition of “Stand Up (Champions Theme)” by Patrizio Buanne was played as Cannavaro raised the trophy.
As a result of the win, Italy was able to take the top spot in the FIFA World Rankings for the first time since November 1993 in February 2007. Pirlo received the Man of the Match accolade. Zidane received the Golden Ball for being the tournament’s best player the day following the championship game.
The day following the final on July 10, the Italy team celebrated their triumph with a parade in Rome, which drew 500,000 spectators. The team then proceeded to the Circus Maximus. During the team’s meeting with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and President Giorgio Napolitano, each member of the World Cup-winning team received an Italian Order of Merit of Cavaliere Ufficiale.
