Thursday, July 06, 2006

Blue on blue 2006

It's Italy vs France in an all blue World Cup final. Azzurri vs Les Bleus. After the methodical chess match between Italy and Germany, it was nice to see a slugfest in the France-Portugal semifinal battle of the old warriors, Figo and Zidane. These two venerable ballahs, set to retire after the World Cup, still had it in them, Figo even had one tantalizingly close header that sailed inches over the crossbar that wouldve set the game to extra time.

Fearless forecast: Italy. It'll come down to defense and Buffon is just so much better than Barthez who butterfingered several shots in the match against Portugal. The French backs have to work their asses off to keep the pressure off him. But I wouldnt mind a French victory. Zidane deserves a fitting sendoff.

(Thanks to RPN 9 for airing the semifinals and finals on a delayed basis. They air it at 5 in the morning while the live game is still going on.)

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