An Ambiguous Final to World Cup 2006

The French national team canceled a march through the Champs Elysees at their arrival to their country after being defeated by the Italians who won the title of the best team of football soccer in the whole world after winning the final match of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

The beginning of the championship game did not start out well for Italy. Marco Materazzi fouled French midfielder Florent Malouda in the box, allowing France to throw a penalty kick in the seventh minute. Star midfielder Zinedine Zidane took the kick and scored. Materazzi equaled the score twelve minutes later.

The match was held during the 90 minutes of regulation time. Then they played two overtime periods of 15 minutes each one and nothing happened, they were still tied 1 – 1. So they had to go to penalty kicks. When they did, Italy scored all five while France scored only three goals, David Trezeguet missed the crucial kick that conferred the triumph to the Italians.

The captain of the French team was spelled from the game after he physically attacked the Italian player Marco Materazzi hitting him on the chest with his head. Zidane was sent off 20 minutes into extra time.

Materazzi was the man that equalled the score between both teams after Zidane scored the first goal from the line of penalty and Materazzi was also the man that had Zidane sent off. France coach Raymond Domenech admitted Zidane’s moment of madness cost France the victory of the game and Soccer’s biggest award: the World Cup, but Domenech might also have made a couple mistakes while replacing superstar Thierry Henry and offensive threat Franck Ribery leaving them out of the penalty kicks.

This time Italy avenged the defeats in the hands of France in Euro 2000 and the 1998 World Cup. Italy's fans celebrated big time as they became world champions for the first time since 1982.
Germany 2006 World Cup Championship attracted the second largest number of fans in World Cup history averaging 52,500 spectators per match.