Italy/France 
After one month and 63 games of jam-packed action, we are down to the final two teams. Both the teams, France and Italy, were not in the bookies' list of favorites at the beginning of the tournament but have showed their pedigree by making it to the Olympiastadion on Sunday.
The last time Italy won the trophy in 1982,there were 4 European teams in the semifinals. This time too there was no South American team in the semifinals. A pre WC match fixing scandal also rocked Italy at that time. Italy today is also in the midst of something similar, which threatens to relegate, some of the country's most revered clubs which the likes of Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio into the lower divisions. The current Italian team is equal if not better than the team, which won the trophy 24 years ago. Gianluigi Buffon is as good a goalkeeper as Dino Zoff. The likes of Cannavaro, Materazzi and Zambrotta remind one of Gentile, Scirea and company. Italy's highest scorer in that WC, the legendary Paolo Rossi started scoring from the 3rd last game. In this WC, Italy's top scorer is Luca Toni who also started scoring from the 3rd last game (the quarterfinals).
That was the history bit. For the finals, Italy will be without Alessandro Nesta, who now has a history of missing games for Italy in all the three WC's he has played. That means Inter Milan defender Materazzi will play alongside captain Fabio Cannavaro who has had an excellent World Cup so far. The Italian back four has conceded just one goal so far and that was an own goal by Cristian Zaccardo against the United States. Andrea Pirlo has been a pillar in midfield and will be remembered for setting up the goal, which broke German, hearts in the semifinals. Up front Francesco Totti and Luca Toni will pose a formidable challenge for Gallas, Abidal, Thuram and company. Gennaro Gattuso will be given the all important of marking Zinedine Zidane. If he performs it well, the trophy might well come back to Rome. But marking Zidane is easier said than done, given Gattuso's volatility and Zidane's ability.
For France, this has been a WC, which has surpassed all expectations. Half of their squad is into there 30's,but this team of classy veterans has played well as any other previous WC winning team. Nobody gave them a chance against Spain and Brazil in the knockout stages. They came back from one goal down to beat Spain 3-1 and then shocked Brazil 1-0.They beat Luis Scolari's men by a similar margin in the penultimate stage to setup a repeat of Euro 2000 with the Italians. The man who scored the winning goal there, David Trezeguet, will be watching from the sidelines due to Domenech's one striker policy. Thierry Henry is probably the only man who can beat Klose to the Golden Boot. But he needs a hat trick and that looks improbable given the solid nature of the Italian defence. The key player for the French will be of course their talismanic skipper, Zinedine Zidane. The Real Madrid midfielder will be playing his last football game on Sunday and will be keen to end it with a win. Zidane can make even the best of defenders look like fools and the Italians will be hoping that Gattuso can keep him quiet. If Gattuso accomplishes it, thats half the job done for the Italians.
My verdict:
Extremely tough game to predict. My heart says France, my brain says Italy. May be the better team win on the given day.
