V


OlympiaStadion Berlin

20.00 German local time.

At least! Sometimes Italians are so dirty, but I love them so much because their players are funny I have believed in that team since the beginning, I have never doubted in Italy. One of my friend is italian ancestry, he supports both France and Italy, but this sunday, that [beep!] will support Italy lol I'm sure it will be a happy sunday with all my friends. Tonight I'm alone at home (too confident in french victory? lol) but this week-end will be great I'm sure!!!

What I'm sure is that there is no war between us, because Italians are our old friends!

Italy - France, what a great game it will be!!!

Key Matchups:

V

Luca Toni and Lilian Thuram


V

Zinedine Zidane and Gennaro Gattuso

V

Francesco Totti and Claude Makalele

V

Fabio Cannavaro and Thierry Henry.

Group G:

France V Switzerland- 0-0 Stuttgart

France V Korea- 1-1 Leipzig

Togo v France- 0-2 Cologne

qualified second in Group G behind Switzerland.

Round of 16:

Spain v France- 1-3 Hanover

Quarter Finals:

Brazil v France- 0-1 Frankfurt

Semi-Finals:

Portugal v France- 0-1 Munich


Form:
DDWWWW

Group E:

Italy V Ghana- 2-0 Hanover

Italy V USA- 1-1 Kaiserslautern

Czech Republic v Italy- 0-2 Hamburg

Round of 16:

Italy v Aus- 1-0 Kaiserslautern

Quarter Finals:

Italy v Ukraine- 3-0 Hamburg

Semi-finals:

Germany v Italy- 0-2 Dortmund.

Form:
WDWWWW

If I was a betting man i'd be tipping Italy. I just think their football is much more convincing, and after France's performance tonight id give them no chance.
Italy must be favourites for the tournament after knocking out the home nation.

mods any chance of making this a sticky before it disappears?

So it's Italy vs France ( or France vs Italy ) at last...

«We'll shake our hands, we'll fight each others with all our forces , then we'll shake our hands again»

(Peter "red socks" Blake, my respects to him forever...)

And respects to France

Max, Italy

Thinking about that final, both countries are there because they have the 2 most impressive defense of that world cup, without doubt. I'm just wondering if total offensive teams (Brazil, Netherlands or this year Ivory Coast) can win a world cup later. It seems to me that defense in modern football has taken an important place... Remember Greece in the last Euro?

But France can do both offensive and defensive game, depending the opponent, and unfortunatly I think that this final will be a closed game without spaces on the fields... I just hope it won't be a boring final, don't want to take a coffee!

Italy the cheating beep, they would be the greatest actors in the world. If that group were in America they would all have had academy awards by now. As for the French who cares, the only reason Italy will have support is that everyone hates the French.

Please, show me where and when in this World Cup we have been actors...

The best and luckiest team deserve to be in the Final. In my book ITALY & FRANCE deserved to be in the FINAL. My analysis are as follows:-
+ goalkeeper : Italy has the edge.
+ defensive line-up : Italy is better.
+ midfield : France has the superiority.
+ forward : Italy looks more dangerous.

Its gonna be a classic matchup and the most entertaining one. Italy & France both are a no-nonsense team that overcome all the odds. Thats what the Final is all about. ITALY is my pick since day one to win this year's world cup. I believed I'm the only one in Malaysia who pick ITALY. And deserved our respect after a good showing in the first round, and eliminated Germany, the host nation in the semis.

On the other hand France peaking at the right moment. After beating Spain, Brazil, and then Portugal, what else can we say man. Zidane in his element again, just like 1998. He is the ONE man capable of change the game around. I love to see a close game with non-stop action. And no red or even yellow card. Lets focus on the good football.

I love to see a score line of 3-2. ITALY to win.

Nice rascism here again, posting replies like this shouldn't be allowed on the forum ....

we try to be fair and let everyone express their opinion on games and football an such , what we dont allow is members going too far and using foul and abusive language or racist comments . If anyone is offended by a post then please PM a mod or admin and we will check it out

MEXICO 70 Italy in final -LOST-
ESPANA 82 Italy in final -WON-
USA 94 Italy in final -LOST-

GERMANY 06 Italy in Final -?-

We are in final every 12 years and win every 24??

Hey! Thinking about this match, I wonder if it would be more useful to let Trezeguet play insteed of Henry! Henry is a fast player and a space eater, but in that kind of match, I think the Italians won't let us spaces to attack, and their central defense is very good! So I think Trezeguet should be more useful because he doesn't need to much space to score (that's his speciality) and is a very good stopped kick player (free-kick, corner, etc.): good with his head and in volley shots. The main problem is that playing with Trezeguet means play a game with only 10 players because he doesn't participate so much in the game, waiting in the opponent zone. So if I were Domenech, I think I would let Henry play the first half-time, then let Trezeguet play the second half-time.

What do think about that?

No Conner, I do not think anyone is going to get offended by the trash a few sleeping heads may throw up.
What aws very important is that Germany v Italy was a great match but the greatest thing was the supporters' (both side) behaviour in spite of all the trash (again) some newspapers wrote.

Both Italy and France deserve to play the final and I'm sure supporters will win again no matters of the result.

FORZA AZZURRI!!!!!!

Damn you are right Gattusinho! It's unbelievable! I just hope that logic won't happen! Come on! You have already 3 stars on your shirt, let us at least one more! lol

If I were Domenech I would made Trezeguet play the final instead of Zidane

Hey! To be honest, tactically, it won't be a so much handicap because as Italians are very good in occupying the space, the talent of Zidane should be neutralized as it has always been against a good defensive team! But as that match is his last match of his career, it is impossible to replace him, even if letting him play means a defeat! But I really think that Trezeguet can be very useful (as I said before), and else he plays in Italy, so he understands more than anyone italian players!

I think 2 nil Italy

If that eventualy proves to be right, there are good news and bad news for you:

The good news: you win your 4th cup this year.

The bad ones: Nothing to do until the 2030 WC.

Trezeguet knows the italian players very well as well as Zidane does, all 3, with Henry, are very good but Zidane scares me more then the other 2 because he's unpredictable, extremely experienced and does mistakes rarely.

Let's hope Cannavaro does the impossible, as he's always done, so far!!!

Our target is to prove this rule was right until this WC and change it to a more frequent from next WC on...

Offense wins games , defense wins championships.

and another one

Great players decide the big games.

I don't think it is a coindince that the two oldest / most experienced and defensive-orientated teams are in the final.

Both are very evenly matched and my guess is that one moment of brilliance might decide this one.

Both teams certainly have the players for that, but I wouldn't be surprised if this one went into extra time and PSO. In PSO I would give the edge to Italy simply on the fact that they have the better goalkeeper.

my favorite team (Germany, England and the Netherlands: that's pretty odd for a German guy, isn't it ) are all enjoying their well-deserved vacations or having to play a stupid game for third place. Therefore I don't root for any of the two, but since my favorite player of all time, Zidane, is playing his last game ever, I want him to go out in style - so Allez les bleues.