Tony Becca
AFTER ONE month of top-class action, feverish excitement and nerve-wracking drama, the World Cup of football, the greatest one-sport show on earth, is over and congratulations to Italy on lifting the glittering gold trophy and pocketing the US$20 million winners' prize.
In a match filled with pulsating action from start to finish in Berlin on Sunday evening, Italy won their fourth title at the end of a dramatic penalty shoot-out and left hundreds of thousands of their fans celebrating in Rome and all around their beloved country.
As football fans around the world serenade the Italians, however, they should also spare a though for France who gave as much as they got before bowing out on one missed penalty kick - a shot that was so close that the ball dropped only a few inches short of the goal-line after completely beating goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and hitting the under side of the crossbar.
As every one agrees, as France's winning coach of 1998, Aime Jacquet, said afterwards, a penalty shoot-out is a lottery, any number can play.
TOUGH LUCK
That is definitely so, and just as it was to Italy in 1994 when they lost in the final to Brazil, because of that it is tough luck to France - just as it is to Switzerland, who lost to the Ukraine on penalty kicks in the round of 16, and to Argentina and England, who lost to Germany and Portugal in the same manner in the quarter-finals.
Looking back at the tournament, there were a few disappointments, and those include the performance of England, who, arguably, were the most disappointing team in it, the performance of Brazil, who, probably, were the second most disappointing team around, and the individual performances of great players like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Roberto Carlos and Cafu of Brazil, and heralded players such as Wayne Rooney, Peter Crouch, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard of England as well as Ruud Van Nistelrooy of the Netherlands.
While Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Argentina, and obviously Italy and France, who were not numbered among the top favourites at the start of the tournament, did reasonably well and defended their reputation, opposite to England and Brazil were the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Australia - three first-timers and one second-timer who covered themselves in glory.
OLD STAGERS
And while Ronaldhino and company failed to fire, while old stagers like Zinedine Zidane - the man of the tournament, Luis Figo and Patrick Vieira surprised probably even themselves and starred with vintage performances and, unlike Lukas Podolski of Germany, Christiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Fernando Torres of Spain, while talented youngsters like Lionel Messi of Argentina, Robinho of Brazil and Aaron Lennon of England never really got the opportunity to parade their class, the players who went into Germany as relative unknowns and left there as stars included Didier Zokora, Kolo Toure, Bakary Kone and Emmanuel Eboue of the Ivory Coast, Michael Essien, Stephen Appiah, and Richard Kingson of Ghana and Emmanuel Adebayor of Togo.
One month consists of between 31 days and 28 days. This one, however, looked so short, it seemed as if it were just a few days - and it seemed so, not only because of the skill of Zidane and Figo, not only because of the artistry of Christiano Ronaldo and Torres, but also because of the brilliance of so many other players, of Deco and Maniche of Portugal, Juan Requelme of Argentina, Fabio Cannavaro and Buffon of Italy and Shaka Hislop of Trinidad and Tobago.
The 2006 World Cup was also memorable, not because of Zidane's embarrassing exit, but because of matches such as Argentina versus Serbia and Montenegro, Argentina versus Germany, Spain versus France, Portugal versus France and Italy versus Germany, because of David Beckham's free-kick against Ecuador and Maxi Rodriquez's volley against Mexico, because of David Villa's penalty for Spain versus France, and with it coming after 24 delicate passes, because of Argentina's magnificent and unforgettable goal against Serbia and Montenegro.
