Tony Becca
THE WORLD Cup is now down to the last two and, contrary to expectations, at least in this part of the world, the last two are Italy and France.
They do not include England - as a few may have expected, they do not include Germany - as some may have expected and definitely do not include Brazil and Argentina as many expected.
After an unimpressive start during which they defeated Ghana 2-0, drew 1-1 with the United States, defeated the Czech Republic 2-0 and then clipped Australia 1-0 with a late, very late, penalty in the round of 16, Italy easily disposed of Ukraine 3-0 in the quarter-finals and then, in a thrilling finish, knocked out Germany 2-0 in the semi-finals.
After a slow start during which they drew 0-0 with Switzerland, drew 1-1 with South Korea and, in a do-or-die situation, defeated Togo 2-0 in order to make it out of their group, France moved into top gear, defeated Spain 3-1 in the round of 16, clipped Brazil 1-0 in the quarter-finals and also clipped Portugal 1-0 in the semi-finals.
TIMING
For both teams, it appears a case of timing their run beautifully - either that, or the ball started to roll for them at the right time.
Whatever it was, it was perfect timing.
In the group stages, a draw or a loss is not crucial. From there on, however, from the round of 16 onwards, it is win or go home and with a few teams, including the Netherlands and Spain, who looked good in the group stage buckling and dropping out in round 16, with a few, like England, who never did look good, but who still harboured hopes of winning the title, like Brazil and Argentina, who looked unstoppable, bowing out in the quarter-finals, Italy and France moved from strength to strength - so much so they are now at the top of their game and promise, at the end of a tournament filled with exciting matches, a final to remember.
In the first semi-final, for example, Italy, against a good, competitive Germany, in the best match of the tournament to date - a match that paraded attacking football at its best, Italy were at their best.
They did take a long time to score, but even though they were forced into extra-time, they never looked in danger of losing, and with Fabio Grosso scoring in the last minute of extra-time, with Allessandro Del Piero scoring in time added on, they finished in style.
The ending was almost like a fairytale.
And although it was not as classy as the first one, the second semi-final was almost as good.
BEST PLAYER
Zidane was not as brilliant as he was against Brazil. Apart from Lilian Thuram of France, however, and to an extent Christiano Ronaldo of Portugal, he was the best player on the field. Although Luis Figo missed a header 12 minutes from time, and Fernando Meira muffed a wonderful opportunity a few minutes afterwards, with Portugal dominating midfield, but not creating many oppor-tunities, France deserved their victory - even though the penalty, converted by Zidane in the 33rd minute did not appear to have been a penalty.
Who will win the World Cup? That is a difficult question. France looked good, really good against Brazil, up to when they scored the penalty against Portugal, they looked dangerous, and once there are players like Zidane, Thierry Henry, Patrick Veira and Frank Ribery leading their attack, once there is one like Thuram in their defence, they can, even with an eccentric like Fabian Barthez in goal, come out on top.
With a line-up that includes an attacker like Luca Toni plus those around him like Francisco Totti, Simone Perrotta, Gianluca Zambrotta, Alberto Gilardino, Andrea Pirlo, Fabio Cannavaro and the defensive midfielder Gennarro Gattuso, my bet, however, is on Italy.
