Chapter 117: Final Chapter of the World Cup in Germany

Hugging the young and sweet body, Ricardo had a sweet and dreamless sleep. Time quickly came to July 7, the day of the 9 World Cup final.

While Ricardo got up to change clothes and wash up, Sarafina tacitly turned on the TV and listened to the sports channel introducing some background of this World Cup final and some historical situations of the two warring parties.

This World Cup final was the first since 1938 without Brazil, Germany (including West Germany) or the host country.

Italy has won the World Cup three times in 1934, 1938 and 1982. If it defeats France this time, Italy will become the second team to win at least four times.

Currently, Brazil is the five-time champion, and Germany, which has also won the championship trophy three times, has been eliminated by Italy in the semi-finals.

Italy is now unbeaten in 24 international matches, which is Italy's longest unbeaten streak since 1939.

自1970年世界杯决赛负于巴西队以来，意大利队形成了每隔12年就杀进一次世界杯决赛的规律，且胜负间隔。1982年意大利队在决赛中3比1击败联邦德国队；1994年意大利队在决赛中点球负于巴西队。

The French team had only participated in the World Cup final once before, but they won the championship.

In the 1998 World Cup in France, the Gallic roosters, despite being not favored at the time, defeated the defending champion and top favorite Brazil team 3-0 with two headers from Zidane and the final goal from Petit, thus winning the World Cup on home soil for the first time.

In addition, the French team has participated in two European Cup finals. In 1984, the French team defeated the Spanish team 2-0; in 2000, they defeated the Italian team 2-1 in extra time. Combining the results of the two international competitions, the World Cup and the European Cup, the French team maintains a record of winning the finals.

In addition, Juventus, which is deeply involved in the Calciopoli scandal, will have 8 players appear in the Berlin final. They are Italy's goalkeeper Buffon, defenders Cannavaro, Zambrotta, midfielder Camoranesi and forward Piero. In addition, France's defender Thuram, midfielder Vieira and forward Trezeguet are also from Juventus.

After Ricardo finished packing and gave Sarafina a passionate kiss, he went to the hotel restaurant to meet up. After breakfast, the whole team held the last tactical and mobilization meeting in the conference room, and then set off to the final venue for warm-up.

On the bus heading to the Berlin Olympic Stadium, Ricardo was also listening to the radio station introducing some pre-match live events of the final.

Figures released recently by the German World Cup Organizing Committee show that the final match between Italy and France will attract more than 10 billion viewers worldwide, almost one-sixth of the world's total population, and more than 3000 reporters will report on the scene. The stadium, which was renovated after 2000, can accommodate spectators, but all tickets were sold out two weeks ago...

According to the weather forecast, at 7:9 on the evening of July 20, when the final kicks off, the temperature in the Berlin Olympic Stadium will be around 24 degrees Celsius; compared with the temperature of up to 34 degrees in the past few days, the final between Italy and France will be held in relatively cool weather conditions, which is more suitable for the two teams to perform at a higher level.

While Italy was warming up on the field, the organizing committee had already announced the starting lineups and rosters for both teams.

The Italian team used the same lineup as in the semi-finals, still a 4-2-3-1 formation.

The goalkeeper is No. 1 Buffon;

The back line from right to left is No. 19 Zambrotta, No. 5 Cannavaro, No. 23 Materazzi and No. 3 Grosso;

The defensive midfielders are the Milan combination of No. 8 Gattuso and No. 21 Pirlo;

The three midfielders are No. 16 Camoranesi, No. 10 Totti and No. 20 Perrotta;

The single center is No. 9 Luca Toni.

France's starting lineup was also 4-2-3-1, and the lineup was also the same as in the semi-finals;

The goalkeeper is Barthez, number 16;

The back line from left to right is No. 3 Abidal, No. 5 Gallas, No. 15 Thuram and No. 19 Sagnol;

The double defensive midfielders are No. 4 Vieira and No. 6 Makelele;

The central midfield trio is No. 22 Ribery, No. 10 Zidane and No. 7 Malouda;

The single arrow is No. 12 Henry.

Nesta is the only main player missing from both teams. He missed all the knockout stage games due to a groin injury. French substitute striker Saha is suspended due to accumulated yellow cards.

Italian midfielder De Rossi ended his 4-match suspension and sat on the bench. Cannavaro made his 100th appearance for the national team, becoming the third Italian international to enter the Hall of Fame after Maldini and Zoff.

Including the starters and substitutes, the personnel configurations of both teams are star-studded and luxurious.

At 2006:7 on July 9, 20, after an 11-minute closing ceremony, the 18th World Cup final was about to begin at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany. The Italian team, wearing blue shirts, blue pants and blue socks, and the French team, wearing white shirts, white pants and white socks, had already started their battle on the field. The players of both teams were ready to go, waiting for the referee's whistle...

在两队此前32次交锋中，意大利17胜8平7负，进75球失44球，在4次世界杯交锋中赢得前2场(1938年1/4决赛和1978年小组赛)，但1986年1/8决赛0比2告负成为分水岭，那是意大利最近一次在世界杯淘汰赛阶段90分钟内输球。

Since then, France has remained unbeaten against Italy in all competitions (4 wins, 2 draws), and won on penalties in the 1998 World Cup quarter-finals. The last time the two teams met in a major final was at the 1 European Championship, when Italy was only 4 seconds away from victory, Wiltord equalized the score, and Trezeguet scored the golden goal in extra time to win.

This is the seventh time in World Cup history that two European teams have competed for the title. The last time was when Italy defeated West Germany in Madrid in 7. The team also defeated European opponents in its previous two championships (1982 against Czech Republic and 2 against Hungary). Italy lost both finals in the Americas to Brazil (1934 in Mexico City and 1938 in the Rose Bowl in the United States). France has not lost in the knockout stage since losing to West Germany in the semi-finals of 1970.

French President Jacques Chirac, Italian President Napolitano, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Austrian Chancellor Edwin Schüssel, Prince Albert of Monaco and other dignitaries attended the match.

In the center of the stadium passage, the golden Hercules trophy is emitting brilliant light and glory under the reflection of the lights, waiting for the winner of this game to lift it!

After a month, when all the chapters were read and all the notes were played, the final chapter of the German World Cup officially kicked off with the referee's opening whistle.

After the kick-off, both teams showed no reservations and started fighting for every inch of land and punches from the very beginning, and the game quickly entered its climax!

Less than a minute later, Henry fell to the ground after colliding with Cannavaro while running in the midfield. He seemed to have a neck injury and was dizzy... Shortly afterwards, Zambrotta intercepted and tackled Vieira in front of the penalty area and received the first yellow sapphire card of the game.

It can be seen that the suffocatingly tense atmosphere of this World Cup final permeated the entire stadium.

The Italian team obviously couldn't use ground breakthroughs, so the Gallic roosters began to try to break through through high-altitude bombing. And just 5 minutes after the start of the game, it worked like a charm!

French goalkeeper Barthes made a long pass from the free kick in the backcourt, Henry headed the ball near the left sideline, Malouda quickly turned from the left rib and cut into the penalty area, breaking through the double-team of Cannavaro and Materazzi, and fell to the ground after a slight contact with Materazzi's raised left leg. The Argentine referee Elizondo made a decisive decision and pointed to the penalty spot!

The entire Italian team was appealing to the referee. Slow-motion replays showed that before coming into contact with Malouda, Materazzi had already raised his hands and even retracted his left foot, and Malouda had already passed Materazzi. Materazzi almost didn't touch Malouda, but the latter made an exaggerated leap and fell to the ground...

Ricardo couldn't help but smile bitterly. Could this be the retribution for the fact that Italy had the most diving in this World Cup? Brother Totti, brother Del Piero, brother Inzaghi, brother Gilardino... Aren't you heartbroken?

Then the French captain Zidane took the penalty kick, calmly hitting a big spoon penalty with his right foot... The ball hit the bottom edge of the right crossbar and bounced inside the goal line, then hit the crossbar and bounced out to be caught by young player Buffon.

But the referee determined that the ball had already crossed the goal line, and France broke the deadlock with a controversial penalty in the 7th minute!

This game was Zidane's last dance at the national team level. The master's big heart helped the team get off to a dream start and he also became the fourth player to score 4 goals in the World Cup final.

However, when Ricardo saw the penalty kick that was a bit too powerful and bounced out of the line, he seemed to have some impression of it. It seemed that four years later, the shooting path of the Genie was similar, but the result was different? In the end... he fainted in the toilet?

In this cup, Italy was scored by the opposing players for the first time. Buffon ended his record of 460 minutes without conceding a goal and failed to break his predecessor Zeng Jia's record of 517 minutes without conceding a goal.

After losing the ball, the Azzurri were now in a passive position. Lippi's Azzurri had to launch a counterattack immediately!

However, in the 9th minute of the game, Sagnol made a 45-degree pass to the penalty area from the right. Materazzi almost scored an own goal when he cleared the ball outside the penalty area. The ball went slightly wide of the near post.

This scared the whole team into a cold sweat, and Ricardo couldn't help but feel ashamed. Because just a while ago in the Serie A league, Materazzi scored a super own goal from 50 meters away, directly knocking out Inter Milan's goalkeeper Cesar... Buffon naturally didn't dare to neglect it, he had to guard against his own people!

But after this goal, Materazzi's bad luck seemed to have run out and his luck had turned!

In the 19th minute of the game, Materazzi had the chance to make amends!

First, Camoranesi tried to break through on the right side but failed, but won a corner kick on the right side. Then, Sleepy took a corner kick on the right side, and the silver crescent-like corner kick landed accurately and found Materazzi who was ambushing at the back point...

Materazzi overpowered Vieira, jumped high, and hit the ball in the air like a volleyball smash. 6 meters in front of the goal, the ball was hit by a sledgehammer and smashed into the center of the goal!

French goalkeeper Barthes and the defender on the goal line were helpless against the ball that shot out like a cannonball.

Italy tied the score 1-1! Materazzi redeemed himself!

Goals scored by the substitute, red cards, penalties... The Inter Milan central defender, whose World Cup was full of drama, raised his hands to the sky with joy. He also became the second Italian player after Toni to score two goals in the World Cup.

This is also the first time in 20 years that both teams have scored in a World Cup final.

After that, the two sides entered a new round of attack and defense. After both sides scored, the game became conservative and cautious. Although it was not exciting enough, it was definitely intense enough.

The French frequently attacked the Italian defense through their fast wingers, Ribery and Malouda, while Italy was looking for opportunities to counterattack while maintaining a solid defense... The final in Berlin on that night had entered a white-hot stage.

However, Ricardo always felt that Italy played a bit tight today. Technical players like Camoranesi and Totti did not show their characteristics at all today...

Half an hour had passed since the start of the match, and although Camoranesi had created several corner kicks, he had only managed to break through a few times, and Totti had simply disappeared. Was he too nervous?

On the contrary, although the French team's veterans are not as physically fit as the Italian youngsters, they are more experienced and perform more easily. Fortunately, muscular men such as Luca Toni, Gattuso, and Cannavaro still performed well. Oh! The key is also the technical output of the midfield brain sleepy...

Although France had the upper hand in ball possession, Italy still managed to create threats.

In the 35th minute, Italy played a wonderful little cooperation in the right rib of the French team's penalty area. The Milan duo first hit the wall, and then Gattuso broke into the penalty area and sent a straight pass... Luca Toni made an offside run and cut in 8 meters to the right of the goal, and shot directly from a small angle! Unfortunately, the ball was blocked by Thuram's shovel and went out of the baseline.

Then Pirlo took another precision-guided corner kick from the right side. This time Materazzi made a feint at the front point to attract attention. Luca Toni behind him jumped into the air 7 meters in front of the goal and dribbled past Thuram!

The ball was hit by Thor's hammer again, smashing hard into Barthes' goal... Unfortunately, this time the ball hit the crossbar and bounced out of the bottom line! The French team, which had escaped the disaster, had made three corner kick defense errors in the first half, and the Maginot Line of the Gallic rooster kept sounding the air defense alarm.

Before the end of the first half, Qi Xuanzong continued to show off his footwork, dodging past the opponent, turning around, and then sending a low pass with the outside of his right foot, penetrating the Italian defense... Henry cleverly turned the ball and broke into the penalty area! Fortunately, Cannavaro, who was concentrating, made a precise tackle to break it.

In the 37th minute, Zidane took a corner kick from the left, and Gallas headed the ball wide of the far post. In the 43rd minute, Zidane cleverly passed the ball in the middle of the front court and was tripped by Pirlo. In the 45th minute, Abidal accidentally dropped the ball from the backcourt sideline.

After 45 minutes of fierce confrontation, the two teams were evenly matched in the first half and entered the halftime break with a score of 1-1.

As soon as the second half came out, Ricardo and his undeserving roommate De Rossi were sent by Lippi to warm up: "10 minutes of warm-up!"

The two men responded in unison: "Got it, Boss!"

Then I quickly turned around and ran to warm up...

……