rone | your final recap

Germany 3 - Portugal 1: Excellent game. Up and down activity throughout the game, both Schweinsteiger goals (first one was a well-hit knuckler with Ricardo screened, second one was an unstoppable curler from outside) and the Gomes goal (centered right at his head by Figo) were excellent (and the Petit own goal came off a good Schweinsteiger free kick).

Italy 1 - France 1 (5-3 PKs): The France goal was a penalty kick awarded on what looked like a very good dive; Zidane hit the crossbar but the ball bounced well behind the touch line before coming back out. The Italian goal came soon after that from a corner kick (France seemed to have trouble with Italy's corner kicks all game). Throughout the game, one team seemed to spend some time dominating, then falling back and letting the other team take the upper hand. The Italians had a goal (correctly) called off for offsides. Near the end, the French really seemed to have worn the Italians down, but then, soon after taking a marvelous header that Buffon barely poked out, Zidane (who dislocated his shoulder late in the game) lost his patience with Materazzi and headbutted him in the chest, which got him ejected. Kim thought maybe Materazzi tweaked his shoulder, but the replays don't really seem to show that; all that's clear is that Materazzi hugs him and grabs his jersey a bit. They exchange words as Zidane walks away, he turns around, bam. In PKs, Trezeguet's shot was almost a mirror of Zidane's penalty kick, except this time the ball hit the front side of the touch line, and that was the difference.

It's a shame to see Zidane go out like this, and it's a shame to have the Cup end this way, both because of the ugliness and the PKs. The Iron Man award goes to Philipp Lahm, Fabio Cannavaro, and Gianluigi Buffon for playing 690 minutes of soccer in this Cup. Buffon only allowed an own-goal and a penalty kick.

Let's do it again in four years.