Berlin – Francesco Totti, Marco Materazzi and Fabio Grosso playfully mauled each other in a dog pile. Multimillion-dollar athletes jumped around like little kids, and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon broke away from a wild mob kissing the World Cup trophy. He sat on a lone folding chair and crossed his arms in quiet reflection after becoming one of Italy’s new World Cup heroes.
Meanwhile, Europe’s last World Cup hero was nowhere to be found.
Zinedine Zidane was long gone, off to a new life of reflection on his journey from France’s biggest hero to major goat in eight years. David Trezeguet, another former French god, lay flat on the ground, unwilling to watch Italy celebrate its World Cup victory for which his miss in a shootout was responsible.
Italy won the shootout 5-3, after a 1-1 tie in regulation Sunday, setting off massive rallies from the slums of Palermo to summer homes in the Dolomites. A nation racked by a national soccer scandal that could scar its beloved game for years was saved by a steely- nerved national team that grew closer, as did a distant investigation.
“This squad showed great heart,” said midfielder Gennaro Gattuso, so delirious in victory he danced with teammates in his underwear. “Maybe it wasn’t pretty, but we were hard to beat.”
The tightly fought game, with France playing with unusual offensive verve, started falling apart for the French at the unlikeliest source. Zidane, a three-time FIFA player of the year who was playing his last competitive game, entered retirement by giving himself an early going-away present.
Four minutes into the second 15-minute extra period, Materazzi, whose header at 19 minutes evened it at 1-1, apparently said something Zidane didn’t like. Zidane, whose two goals beat Brazil for the 1998 World Cup title, turned and inexplicably head-butted Materazzi in the chest, knocking him to the ground. After confirming with his linesman, Argentine referee Horacio Elizondo issued Zidane a red card.
Zidane unceremoniously handed his captain’s armband to goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, threw his wrist tape to the ground and walked off the field for the last time.
“Zidane being sent off changed everything,” France coach Raymond Domenech said. “Even in extra time the Italian team was waiting for only one thing, and that was penalties. It’s regrettable. We regret it. He regrets it.”
France had pressured the favored Italians all night. It outshot Italy 13-5, and Zidane, whose penalty kick gave France a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute, nearly won it in the first overtime. But Buffon’s leaping, one-handed save stopped Zidane’s header.
Even one man down in the final 11 minutes, France kept pressuring, knowing it didn’t want to get in a shootout. Zidane’s penalty kick was the only goal Buffon gave up to an opponent all tournament. (Italy scored an own-goal for the U.S. in a 1-1 tie.)
Neither Buffon nor Barthez had a chance to block any penalty kicks in the shootout. Each shot was hard and true – except one. Trezeguet, whose sudden-death goal gave France the 2000 European Championship over Italy, was a substitute during the first overtime. After Andrea Pirlo and Materazzi scored for Italy and Sylvain Wiltord did for France, Trezeguet stutter-stepped toward the ball.
Buffon guessed wrong, but his Juventus teammate’s shot hit the crossbar and bounced to the ground just inches from the goal line.
With the shootout at 4-3, the last Italian shooter, Grosso, stood 11 meters from history. The Palermo defender’s rocket in the upper right corner ended it, sending his teammates on a sprinting victory lap while Barthez leaned back in misery, the goalpost holding up his weight.
Much of the credit goes to Italy coach Marcello Lippi. The former Juventus coach took over a disappointing national program two years ago and shepherded the team through the scandal in which he is implicated. After marching through the early rounds, he rallied his troops by saying, “Now we’ve got to complete the opera.”
After the game, he said, “How many coaches have won a world title at the club level and also with a national team? I dunno. I’ve won the Champions League and lots of Serie A titles, but I’ve never felt anything like this.”
Today, Italy returns to the harsh reality of a court case that could demote four teams in its national league, Serie A. Juventus, which gave Italy four starters plus shootout scorer Alessandro Del Piero, could face a demotion to Serie C, soccer’s equivalent of the California League.
But as the players held their gold trophy aloft to Italian fans, whose waving flags turned one section of Olympic Stadium into a sea of red, white and green, no one seemed terribly concerned.
“If the scandal hadn’t happened, I think we wouldn’t have won the World Cup,” Gattuso said. “It has given us more strength.”
And over the loudspeaker, Luciano Pavarotti was singing an opera.
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
