It's Italy-France in the World Cup final. My earlier scepticism has been dispelled by the improvement the Italians have shown with each game and from a position of wanting them to go out in the first round, on the quality I've seen and their (understandable) desperate desire to avoid a penalty-shootout in extra-time of the semi-final, that I'm thinking they deserve to win the World Cup. France with Zidane will always be a threat though and it would be a great way for Zidane to end his career, but they will have to show the kind of game they did in beating Brazil than they did in beating Portugal, the latter engrossing in the way siege warfare is, the French scoring a goal and then saying 'okay, now come and break us down'. The outrageous antics of the Portuguese has, contrary to most teams, lost them friends. The Dutch are pissed off, the English are scathing and France's coach mimed after another piece of theatre that it was 'a wind-up'. Ah well, at least they are not in the final - come on the Germans for third place! Scolari's star, after being heavily burnished during the World Cup, has now lost some of its lustre, with tactical mistakes and odd substitutions and then blaming the excellent referee for defeat. Remember, despite his bizarre views on the gay scene in Kuwait and how a Chilean dictator established mass literacy in that South American stretch of land, (forgetting that it was at the cost of the death of so much poetry and people), this is the man (criticised by Porto fans as well), who led a Portugal team to draw 2-2 with Liechenstein. The Portuguese press talked of national humiliation, which it was, only a little alleviated by the 7-0 thrashing of Russia a few days later. Big Phil's powers may well be in decline the next time England need a new head coach. Already, despite the pool of talent, Portugal have gone more than 400 minutes without scoring. There will be many who hope that drought continues.
The final itself will be especially tasty given that France and Italy will face each other in the qualifying group for 2008, which also contains Ukraine and Scotland. It would be embarrassing for FIFA that a team from a country whose FA and top league are in meltdown to win it, but it would give much-needed comfort to Italians. France will have to call on all of its accumulated experience to overcome the azurri, but if not full of goals, it should be a thrilling tactical-fest.