Stunning.

Stunning.

That’s what the Italians were yesterday. The pedigree of the thorough bred showed. The hosts tried valiantly, Jens Lehman was absolutely magnificent at times, but was beaten twice in the last 3 minutes of extra time. Did the Italians have that little bit extra to take them the full distance? The famed German physical training, which was evident against the Argentineans, was lacking. It was the story of the well tried v/s the truly awesome.

The moment the Germans got the better of Argentina, they were touted to be world beaters; little did people know that the Italians would play spoil sport to the grandest event in German sports history, winning in front of their home supporters for the second time, after the West Germans beat the Dutch some 22 years ago. The “Brave Little Soldier” scored aged 32. His joy at scoring in what is surely his last world cup, if not his last competitive game, was evident. He will be the guy Italy turns to when they need to goods, the same way as Juventus have turned to him for the past 13 years. The party in Berlin was on till the second, the second it took left back Grosso to curl the ball round Lehmann, and bring joy to the match fixing scam tarnished Italian Football fraternity.

Speaking of which, read this

Quote:

After weeks of speculation surrounding the fate of Italy's top clubs, prosecutor Stefano Palazzi has made public his intentions regarding the clubs under investigation.

Juventus

The Old Lady faces the harshest punishments out of the four main clubs involved in the trial.

Palazzi has requested Juve be demoted to Serie C AND suffer a penalty of -6points in the process, making it even harder for Fabio Capello's men to return to the top flight within a couple of years. That is, of course, if Capello remains at the club...

Such a punishment would lead to a massive outward migration of players as one can't see such players as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Gianluigi Buffon playing in the country's third division.

Lazio and Fiorentina

Both teams face the same sentence: a demotion to Serie B and a flabbergasting -15 points penalty.

If the sentence was carried out, the two sides would probably loan out their best assets for a year and call them back after they regain Serie A status.

However such a task seems extremely difficult, as they would have to win almost all of their games to makes sure they finish the season with at least 15 points more than the team who finish top.

Without their best players, such a scenario could lead to the downfall of two of the most prestigious institutions of Italian football.

Lazio and Fiorentina chairmen Claudio Lotito and Franco Carraro both face a 4-year ban.

AC Milan

The Rossoneri face the lightest punishment out of the four teams. Palazzi has requested a demotion to Serie B and a lenient -3 points penalty for the 16-time Italian champions.

Meanwhile, Chairman Adriano Galliani faces a 2-year ban.

Unquote:

3 years of no top flight football for Juve, 2 years for Lazio and Fiorentina, 2 years for AC.

That’s ridiculous; we are talking of the some of the top 30 players in these 4 clubs. I cannot for one imagine Buffon defending his goal against some lonely 3^rd division club, where the attendance in a match would be a paltry 1000 people, can you ? or for that matter Pippo tormenting the defences of a serie B team next year?

The French, led by the indomitable Zizou should go through today.