2006 WORLD CUP FINAL

BERLIN: Italy bring a formidable resume of three World Cup titles and five appearances in the final. France bring the stronger pedigree in this tournament.

While there can be no question both teams earned their spots in today’s championship match at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, the French carry the more impressive list of victims: Spain, Brazil and Portugal.

Compared to beating Australia, Ukraine and Germany to get to the title match, as Italy did in the knockout rounds, well, France’s portfolio is better. That doesn’t make the 1998 champions the favourite; Italy is the choice on most betting lines. But the French were underdogs against the Spaniards, who easily won their first-round group, and the Brazilians, the pre-tournament favourites. Les Bleus were vastly better than both opponents. And while France weren’t particularly impressive in the semi-final win over Portugal, they squeezed through.

“We came to this World Cup and didn’t know what would happen,” defensive leader Lilian Thuram said. “Sometimes you leave and say, ‘It will be the semi-final or the final.’ Not us, we had to take it step by step. And then we bonded.” As have the Azzurri. Italy, seeking their first championship since 1982, has been one of football’s traditional powers since the World Cup began in 1930. But, just like 24 years ago, they were considered an outsider for this title.

As in ‘82, the Azzurri are dealing with a scandal tearing apart the national sport back home. And they have rallied together in an incredible display of camaraderie — not to mention brilliant technical football — to reach their first final since losing to Brazil in 1994.

“I have great admiration,” France coach Raymond Domenech said of the Italians. “They battle forever. It will be a real test for France. “Against Italy, we always have interesting matches. There is a special emotion, since so many players have played there. Italy remains an eternal benchmark.” Still, the French measured up spectacularly against the biggest array of talent at Germany 2006, the Brazilians. And nobody has lifted his team more than captain Zinedine Zidane, a three-time player of the year headed into retirement after today’s match. Zidane’s mastery has been on display everywhere on the field. He set up one goal and scored another in a 3-1 comeback win over Spain.

His leadership keyed the 1-0 victory over Brazil, which couldn’t deal with Zizou’s magnetic ball possession and distribution. His penalty kick beat Portugal 1-0.

There have been many contributors to France’s turnaround from a desultory start to the World Cup — draws against Switzerland and South Korea. None has topped Zidane. “He is still incredible,” right back Willy Sagnol said. “He has the qualities of a natural leader.” He is the man Italy must stop.

“I’ve played against him several times with (AC) Milan and I’ve never marked him man to man,” Italy midfielder Gennaro Gattuso said. “You don’t stop Zidane. Maybe he stops himself if he’s not in form. You have to try and control him. To stop him, you need to make the sign of the cross.” The Italians not only must shut down Zidane by pressuring him in the midfield, they also want to have more possession of the ball than Zizou and his playmates. Italy have done that well in most of their matches, and with a defence that allows virtually no space in the penalty area, opponents get flustered. Italy also have plenty of finishers, with 10 players having scored in the tournament. The nations have met four times in World Cup play, splitting the series.

Most recently, France won on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw in 1998 on the way to their only title. Italy coach Marcello Lippi was livid when told some consider making the final a triumph. “I want to be clear on one thing,” he said yesterday. “When I hear people talking about celebrating no matter how things turn out, it bothers me. If we lose, we won’t want to joke around. Having gotten this far and then not winning would make me really (angry) tomorrow. “When in your life are you going to get a chance like this again?” (AP)