The France team will play the fourth World Cup final in its history on Sunday. The defeat conceded in 2006 once morest Italy for Zinedine Zidane’s last match was particularly painful.
Eight years following the coronation of July 12, the France team hopes to win its second star when it comes once morest Italy, July 9, 2006, to play in the final of the World Cup. After a moribund group stage, the Blues approach this last match with full confidence. Consequence in particular of his three spectacular victories won once morest Spain in the round of 16, Brazil in the quarter-finals and Portugal in the semi-finals.
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As he prepares to end his career, Zinedine Zidane is at the top of his game. It won’t take long for him to stand out. After only 7 minutes, the native of Marseille transforms the penalty obtained by Thierry Henry with a splendid Panenka lodged under the crossbar. Alas, Italy equalized ten minutes later thanks to Marco Materazzi and the French n°10 cracked in the last minutes of extra time by delivering a violent headbutt in the chest of this same Materazzi Italy, who spent most of her time defending, gets what she was hoping for: a penalty shootout that sees David Trezeguet miss his attempt.
Italy exults. Much less football. Evidenced by the comments the day following the world press the next day. “Italy won the penalty shootout, and Cannavaro lifted the cup. It will be on the list. And the Italians were able to celebrate. But let no one talk regarding football. Italy did not exist. It’s a very small team, destined to be forgotten. She took refuge in the ropes for an hour. She admitted the total superiority of France,” written like this The country in a column titled “The victory of Italy is that of nothingness”.
The Blues were robbed by an opportunistic team
The analysis is shared by the Times. “France largely dominated the game. Whichever way you turn the question, the Blues can boast of a moral victory ”, writes the English daily. Bild, across the Rhine, is even more incisive. “The France team can cry and with it, all football fans. The Blues have been robbed by an opportunistic side, who care little in the way. The best team lost and had their second star taken away from them”accuses the German daily.
The expulsion of Zinedine Zidane, which occurred during the second period, undoubtedly precipitated the loss of the Blues. And as deserved as it is, the red card issued by referee Horacio Elizondo is controversial. Consequence of the revelations made by the Argentinian several years following the final. The referee had indeed seen nothing and his assistants either. I have my doubts because I can clearly see that something happened but no one saw the scene. And then I hear the voice of Luis Medina Cantalejo, the fourth referee, in my helmet: “Horacio, Horacio, I saw him! A really violent headbutt from Zidane on Materazzi, in the chest! »he said.
“I ask him why he put that headbutt and if Materazzi did anything to him before. He replies, “No, honestly, I don’t know. I just saw the headbutt (on video).” When I get to the level of Materazzi, I realize that the players don’t know what’s going on. Apart from Buffon, who protests to my assistant and Gattuso, the others saw nothing, like me”, he added before detailing the ploy used to pronounce Zidane’s expulsion thanks to the only video images: I go to one of my assistants knowing he knows nothing. If you go to see the assistant, everyone understands that it’s because he’s going to tell you something. So I go to Dario and just tell him: “There are ten minutes left, let’s stay focused.” I turn around, approach Zidane and take out the red card. It was actually kind of a feint…”
