Only thirty minutes to go before the start of the World Cup Final. My prediction is 1-0 for France. We'll see ...
00:00 - France win the battle of the anthems. Obvious.
01:00 - First blood to the Italians. Henry goes down, is shaky getting up. Wont be good if he goes off.
05:13 - Penalty for France! Zidane scores! The foul seemed a little dubious, but there's nothing that can be done about it now. Teams that score first are 41-8-7 in the competition. May have to change my prediction to 2-1.
15:00 - France seem to be settling back a little and the Italians are doing all the attacking. Could be dangerous.
18:40 - Sweet header from Materazzi, 1-1. France needs to step things up again.
35:00 - Italy off the crossbar. Damn. France *really* need to get their act together.
47:00 - Half-time roundup: Good game overall. Ref is doing a good job letting the players play - I suppose it helps that the Italian Diving Squad have been relatively well behaved. The French need to come out in the second half with a little more effort and get some shots on goal.
Placido Domigo is the half-time show for the closing ceremonies. I guess David Hasslehoff wasn't available!
49:00 - Nice penetration by Henry, but nothing comes of it. Clearly, he has recovered from his earlier injury.
52:00 - French are coming back into it, not letting the Italians dictate the game. This is good. Perhaps should have been a penalty - nullifies any complaints about the first French goal, imho.
56:00 - Vieira goes off injured. Will be interesting to see what difference this makes to the French midfield.
60:00 - Italians make two substitutions. Totti comes off. No great loss as he hadn't done much.
61:00 - Italians think they score. No. Not yours. Offside.
65:00 - French clearly dominating the early stages of this half. Some chances, unfortunately no goals.
80:00 - Things are getting ragged. Italy are re-establishing themselves, but neither side seems to be able to string moves together.
92:00 - Looks like we're heading to overtime. Let's hope not penalties. Italians look tired and French look (relatively) in control. French also have two subs left, so that might be important.
99:00 - Ribery oh so close! French are clearly less tired.
103:00 - Buffon saves a Zidane header! Damn, damn, damn.
109:00 - Zidane gets a red card for head-butting Materazzi in the chest for, I guess, saying something that Zidane obviously didn't like. Stupid way for Zidane to end his career, particularly as they might need their best penaty takers.
120:00 - Zidane's exit seems to have taken the French out of the game. Unfortunately, that means we are heading to penalties. What a crap way to end a World Cup. Shades of 1994 when Brazil won - let's hope Italy lose this one as well.
Buffon is clearly the better goalie. Barthez is erratic. It's a crap shoot. Here goes ...
Damn, damn, damn. Italy win 5-3 on penalties. No way they were the best team on the day. C'est la vie, I suppose.
Here's to South Africa in 2010!
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05:13 - Penalty for France! Zidane scores! The foul seemed a little dubious, but there's nothing that can be done about it now.
The faul seemed dubious but that's because it was made deliberately with the intent of not being seen by the judge. On the TV close-up it could be seen how the Italian player's leg touches delicately the calf of the Frenchmen, just to throw him off balance.
Buffon is clearly the better goalie. Barthez is erratic. It's a crap shoot. Here goes ...
Bathez certainly seemed weak, but not that Buffon didn't defend a single penalty kick either.