World Cup 2006 - It's all over.

Well, that was fun.

Italy & France combining to produce a not too bad final.

Molly & I were supporting Italy, Louise the French (Personally I blame Thierry Henry for the family split).
I'm personally still not sure about that first France penalty in the first half. I think he's looking for the excuse to go down and takes it with minimal or no contact.
Obviously I was disappointed that the Italians reverted to type and seemed to lose all flair and imagination in the second half. Although I was supporting them, I was only doing so because I really thought they played excellent football during the whole tournament, and by the end of the second half I was almost considering changing my mind. (I'm sure that really upsets the Italians, yeah, right.)

And then it was extra time and Zidane's moment of madness (copyright every commentator on TV tonight). You look at that and get the impression that old Zizou is not averse to a bit of a scrap and has been in a fair few in his day.
What I felt was funny was the reaction of the French team, even the one's around Zidane, who'd actually seen it happen. They were still complaining to the ref that a red was uncalled for.

In the end it felt like the right team had won.
Italy, whom I so confidentially predicted would be going out in the first round. Arse.
Next time I'm going to keep my big mouth shut to save embarrassment. In fact, the only prediction I got right was that France would beat Brazil.

Next up, Euro 2008 & then World Cup 2010.
Will Steve McClaren be any good?
Will he drop the aging players and rebuild towards the World Cup or will he keep pretty much the same team to try and win Euro 2008?
We wait for the England v Andorra with baited breath.
Or maybe not. Andorra?
Obviously starting the campaign with the glamorous ties then....