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The Golden Boot
Italy's Fabio Grosso celebrates after scoring the game-winning shootout goal to lift his side to its fourth World Cup championship.
(Martin Rose - Getty Images)
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Undeterred by the early deficit, Italy responded quickly. Pirlo served a corner kick to the top of the six-yard box. French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez had come forward and then retreated, so when Materazzi outjumped Patrick Vieira, Barthez could only wave desperately as the header passed under the crossbar.
In the 36th, Italy nearly struck again off another corner kick by Pirlo; this time 6-foot-4 Luca Toni snapped a header off the crossbar.
Halftime seemed to rejuvenate France and especially Henry, who split a pair of defenders before shooting meekly at Buffon and later spinning his way deep into the box before having his cross cleared from danger.
In the 53rd minute, France made a legitimate claim for a penalty kick when Malouda accepted Zidane's pass. Gianluca Zambrotta seemed to make contact with Malouda's ankles, sending the French player to the turf, but play was allowed to continue.
Italy thought it had taken the lead on a restart when Toni's running header beat Barthez. However, the offside flag negated it. Buffon came to Italy's rescue a minute later, reacting to his left to push away Henry's stinging bid.
The match began to slow, energy became a scarce commodity and extra time awaited.
In the first overtime, Franck Ribery watched his 17-yarder squirt fractionally wide, and Buffon turned in a spectacular punch save on Zidane's 12-yard header -- not the only time Zidane's head made contact with something in the extra session.
In the shootout, with Zidane in the locker room, Italy was flawless.
"This is the most satisfying moment of my life," Italy Coach Marcello Lippi said. "It takes a lot of determination and a lot of conviction in penalty shootouts; it's not by chance. Our boys really wanted it, and that's why they were able to put away all five."
Said Gattuso: "Maybe it wasn't pretty, but we were hard to beat."
