An intense final that is infamous for France’s star talent and captain Zinedine Zidane being red carded for headbutting Marco Materazzi in the 110th minute. The British press had hired lip-readers to decipher how Materazzi had verbally provoked Zidane and claimed he had called Zidane “the son of a terrorist whore” - Zidane himself was of Algerian origin. This has never been proven nor confirmed, but it reflected a huge identity issue in France at the time regarding their immigration policy and treatment of Algerian migrants.
Materazzi played a role in the three standout moments of the match: he gave away a penalty to Zidane early on in the game, which Zidane converted, and then made amends for his error by equalising for Italy. The match proceeded to penalties after the 1-1 deadlock could not be broken in 120 minutes. The French substitute Trezeguet missed France’s second penalty and in the World Cup you cannot afford any mistakes. Italy on the other hand held their nerve, faultlessly scoring all five penalties to take their fourth and most recent World Cup title.
Having not got out of their group in the two previous World Cups, Italy were up against a superb Brazilian team with the likes of Pelé, Carlos Alberto and Jairzihno at the height of their careers. In reaching the final, the Brazilians had won all 12 of their games scoring a total of 42 goals
Brazil again pipped Italy to the post in this World Cup final. It was the first World Cup final to ever be decided on penalties, which is some consolation to the Italian side who were much closer than their last attempt to defeat Brazil in a World Cup final. With both of the first penalties missed on either side, Italy failed to hold their nerve with those later in the penalty order. Italy did however earn the title of being the first team to lose a final to the same team ever in a World Cup.
SPORT
2006: the headbutt
THE SILVER YEARS
1970: Brazil’s brilliance
1994: Brazil strikes again!
whilst conceding only 8. The Italians however did not go down without a fight, keeping the score at 1-1 going into the second half. However, the Brazilians responded with fervour at this final challenge, denying them World Cup glory. They ended up outclassing the Italians with a superb passing game that resulted in a 4-1 victory for Brazil.
IMAGE SOURCE: MOAZZAM BROHI/FLICKR