Germany looks forward to Italy v France final

By Paul Radford

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany digested the disappointment at
missing out on its World Cup dream and began to look forward to
what could be a classic final between Italy and France on
Sunday.

The French joined Germany’s conquerors Italy in the Berlin
final with a 1-0 victory over Portugal in Munich on Wednesday
and set up the perfect finale for Zinedine Zidane’s glittering
career.

Zidane, who scored twice in France’s 3-0 win over Brazil in
the 1998 final in Paris, will play his last competitive game in
Berlin’s Olympiastadion before retiring. He had already played
his last game for his club Real Madrid.

Fittingly, it was his penalty in the 33rd minute which put
his French team into the final for the second time.

The match was not the classic encounter that had seen
Germany’s demise the previous night in Dortmund when Italy
grabbed two goals late in extra time to capture a deserved 2-0
win and plunge the host nation into despair.

Germany will meet Portugal in Stuttgart on Saturday in the
third place playoff, a match which is generally regarded as
more of a formality than a full-blooded competitive fixture.

France’s win ended a remarkable run by Portugal’s coach
Luiz Felipe Scolari who won the title with his native Brazil in
2002.

Scolari was within one match of taking a second national
team into what would have been his second final in a row as
coach. But he was denied by the highly effective French defense
for whom Lilian Thuram was the official man of the match.

Central defender Thuram was one of four players in the
France team who also played in the 1998 final, along with
Zidane, goalkeeper Fabien Barthez and midfielder Patrick
Vieira.

Striker Thierry Henry, who played in the 1998 tournament
though not in the final, also lined up against the Portuguese
side and was responsible for France’s goal.

His quick turn in the box took him past Ricardo Carvalho
who tripped Henry to prevent a probable goal, leading to
Zidane’s calmly taken penalty.