Ten years ago today: Italians were crowned champions

CAIRO – 9 July 2017: On July 9, 2006 Italy was crowned World Cup Champions after beating France by penalties at the Berlin Stadium.

The match was heated from the beginning with Zeinedine Zidane from France taking the lead with a controversial penalty. His shot hit the post, scored and quickly bounced out. The referee announced that the ball entered the goal, giving a 1-0 lead to France. At minute number 19, Italian’s veteran midfielder Andrea Pirlo made an amazing cross that found the head of the Italian defender Walter Materazzi, scoring the equalizer for Italy. Both teams wanted to score a goal before half time, but were faced by two legendary goalkeepers: Fabian Barthez from France and Gianluiggi Buffon from Italy. Both goalies made several saves for both team.

The second half started by both teams striving hard to score, or to score the winning goal of the match. The match went into overtime, and then ended in a 1-1 draw.
The extra time began with both teams looking to end the match before any penalties shootout. The Italians were encouraged even more to end the match, because captain Zidane had been ejected. The Italian defender Materrazi insulted Zidane’s family during the game, which led the Frenchman to lose his cool and head butt the Italian defender.

The extra time ended with both teams unable to score, which meant that the only way out would be through penalties. David Trezguet’s penalty gave Italy the trophy. The Italians scored all 5 penalties.

The night ended and the Italians celebrated, while the French remained unsung.