Butting French blue

There were scenes of jubilation among Italians and supporting Italian fans at Rafters Restaurant and Pub, Port-of-Spain yesterday after they watched the fifth successful penalty taken to secure the 2006 World Cup football trophy for Italy in Berlin, Germany.

With the victory, Italy became world champions for the fourth time after beating ten-man France 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

The French in the pub remained silent after the game as they could only recall the ugly scene where their team captain Zinedine Zidane, on his last appearance as a professional, left the field after been sent off in extra time for butting Marco Materazzi off the ball.

Early in the seventh minute of the match, Zidane opened the scoring with a penalty after Materazzi’s trip on Florent Malouda.

The largely French supporting crowd at Angostura compound, Laventille, were on their feet until the 19th minute, when Materazzi made amends and headed the equaliser from corner kick.

But at Rafters, both the Italians and the French supporters sat anxiously with some tensions rising as both sides threatened to score goals throughout the first 90 minutes of the match. Hosts Paul and Richard Mowser went out of their way to make their guests as comfortable as possible given the pressure of the final.

Several shots on each goal brought cheers from their fans, even the off-side goal by Italy was grounds for applause by the French and though disappointed, the Italian support was not fazed. Extra time brought a scare for Italian fans when their goalkeeper had to tip over Zidane’s header. Soon afterwards the France captain was making the sad walk to the dressing rooms when referee Horacio Elizondo brought play to a halt and went up to the other end of the field where, after consulting with his linesman, he sent off Zidane for the off-the-ball incident with Materazzi. A sad way for the France captain to end his glorious career but the Italian fans loudly cheered the referee’s decision. Now sensing an imminent victory the Italians brought out their national flag and started waving it but when the final whistle blew to end the extra time period there was a chorus of oohs and ahhs followed by nervous chatter in the pub. However, deafening applause greeted each penalty kick taken by Italians Pirlo, Gattuso, Materazzi and De Rossi.

One of the French in the crowd was gracious in defeat. He told Newsday at the end, “A final is a final and it could have gone either way. The Italians played well and I guess they deserved their victory.”