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Italy Captures World Cup In Shoot-Out Over France
Italy won its first World Cup in 24 years by defeating France in a 5-3 penalty shoot-out on Sunday. Follow-ing a miss by France's David Trezeguet, Fabio Grosso gave Italy the championship when his kick sailed past goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. This was Italy's first final since 1994 and its sixth over-all. The French went one up in the seveth minute when team captain Zinedine Zi-dane converted. Marco Materazzi scored the equalizer for the Azzurri at the 19th minute. The match went through regular time without further scoring, sending the match into overtime. At the 111th minute, Zinedine was red carded for butting Materazzi in the chest away from the ball, sending him off and ending his international career on a frustrating note. After 120 minutes and no decided winner, Italy converted all five of their penalty kicks in the shoot-out. When Grosso put the ball in the back of the net, Italians worldwide started the celebration. This was Italy's fourth World Cup title and is a little redemption after losing a shoot-out in a FIFA World Cup final to Brazil 12 years ago. Bouncing back after their heartbreaking loss to Italy, host Germany was able to end its run in the 2006 World Cup on a high note as they defeated the resilient Portuguese team 3-1 in the third place consolation match on Saturday. Bastian Schwensteiger scored two second half goals to lead the Mann-schaft to the bronze medal. His first goal came in the 56th minute and then his free-kick in the 61st minute was inadvertently put into the net by Por-tugal's Petit for an own goal. Schwen-steiger added another goal 12 minutes before time. Nuno Gomes put Portugal on the board in the 88th minute to break up German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn's shut-out bid in his final international match. On July 4, the first semi-final game, between Italy and Germany, took place and Italy and Germany remained score-less throughout regulation time and the first 15-minute overtime period. With a shoot-out looming, Fabio Grosso left-footed a shot by German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann in the 119th min-ute. Substitute Alessandro Del Piero added another score in added time to seal the victory for the Azzurri. Italy came close to scoring on two occasions earlier in the match. In extra time, Alberto Gilardino hit the post in the 91st minute. Sixty seconds later, Gianluca Zambrotta hit the crossbar. With the shutout, Italian keeper Gianluigi Buffon still has not allowed an opposing player goal. The only score against him throughout the entire tournament has been an own-goal during the 1-1 draw with the United States. France advanced to the final with a 1-0 victory over the surprising Portuguese squad in the second semifinal. The lone goal of the match came in the 33rd minute on a penalty kick from French captain Zinedine Zidane. Portugal's goalkeeper Ricardo guess-ed correctly on a dive to the right, but the shot was still put passed him. The kick was awarded after Thierry Henry was taken down in the area by Ri-cardo Carvalho. Zidane, the captain of the French team, is retiring after this tournament. He has been an inspiration to his team during this run. He scored two goals in France's last World Cup championship over Brazil in the1998 final. The best chance for Portugal to get the equalizer came in the 78th minute when Cristiano Ronaldo took a free kick, which was knocked away by French keeper Fabien Barthez. The ball came out and Luis Figo's header went over the net, ending their chances for a spot in the final.
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