ok maybe im not anyone favourite's soccer pundit....
ive made some screwed up predictions lately, but isnt that the beauty of the world cup, it's somewhat unbelievable and sometimes unjust unpredictability, hehe.....
so its the italians and the frenchies.....
No one expected this, but this is the world cup people, u'd be a fool not to expect the unexpected....
These are 2 great teams though, with not only amazing players but amazing stories behind them...
The ongoing scandal thats rocking the whole Serie A, whats amazing is that players like Cannavaro, Pirlo, Toni and quite a bunch of them are faced with the prospect of being jobless when they return home...
irregardless as champions or runner-ups...
And how can we forget the swansong stories of the french, Thuram, Zidane, Makalele and Barthez, all are playing thier last respective matches for France. Add also the rags to riches story of Ribery, who cheated death at a tender age of 2, and is now playing on soccer biggest ever stage.....
I mean its not jus about the players, theres jus so much more in world cups...
On paper, italians are the better team undoubtedly, many fail to understand that it is defence that wins games in soccer, and the italians are built on that statement....
They have the best goalie in Buffon, Cannavaro is as usual, such a class act, amazing wing backs in Grosso and Zambrotta, scoring wing backs i might add. Theyre marshalled by the ever present Pirlo, who epitomises the holding midfielder's role...
France can count thier lucky stars that Nesta is still injured, Materazzi fits in, but in my opinion, hes competent at best...
The other half of italy's starting eleven is questionable in my opinion, Gattuso works hard but lacks vision, Perrotta hasnt been at his best, Totti, the italians golden boy, in my opinion hasnt actually showed up...
Toni and Gilardino looks disfunctional upfront....
Camanoresi looks promising going forward, but he'll be up against Sagnol who did a tremendous job on Ronaldo in the semis...
Ppl tend to forget that the italians had an easier route to the final, and they were very lucky at times....
Beating the Germans showed the world what they were made of though...
The italians will do what they do best, defend well, hit the the french on counter attacks and be extremely dangerous in set pieces....
I do think Zidane is gonna have other ideas though...
The French seem a lil old on paper... but they beat 3 very good teams to get here... Spain, Brazil and Portugal....
Like the Italians, they peaked quite timely, they had a horrifying start against the swiss, couldnt fend off the the koreans but showed some promise against Togo...
They do have a mean defence, theyve only conceded 2 goals en route to the finals...
Barthez is thier weakest link, Abidal is ordinary, Thuram is timeless and with Gallas, they have been quite the impregnable brick wall themselves...
They have an unsung hero in Sagnol....
The midfield has a slight edge, with Viera, Zidane and Ribery...
I question the inclusion of Malouda, when someone like Guily isnt even on the bench...
Henry is good, but not as godlike when he plays for Arsenal, my opinion...
It looks like a very tight match, both have been grinding out results to favour them, with dependable defending and occasional glances of individual brialllance...
Its gonna take a moment of magic to decide this...
And sadly, the Italians dont have a magician like Zidane on thier team..
So i say the frenchies....
(Bet at your own risk ok!)
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