Soccer Watch

And then there were two … Italy and France meet in the World Cup final, 1pm Sunday, July 9. They took opposite routes to get there, defying their stereotypes along the way. Italy, widely viewed as negative and overly defensive, has shown a daring, incisive, attacking flair. Against Germany, coach Marcello Lippi made three attacking substitutions, ended the game with four strikers on the field, and was rewarded with two goals at the dying moments of overtime, followed by pandemonium in Rome and around the world (relive those euphoric two minutes at http://movies.crooksandliars.com/WorldCup-Italy-G.mov). France, meanwhile, has gotten to the final with a smothering defense and just enough individual brilliance in attack to eke out a pair of tense 1-0 wins. The Zidane-to-Henry pass and volley that knocked out Brazil was sublime. Henry's drawing a foul in the box, and Zidane's drilling the resultant penalty, was less beautiful but just as effective in dismissing Portugal. But mostly, les bleus just shut down everything Brazil and Portugal tried to do.

Here's the thing, though: As great as those teams are, their attacks were mostly based on their formidable ball skills – taking on defenders one-on-one. I'm not convinced the French defense can cope as well with the Italians' slashing runs and searching through balls. On the other hand, the vaunted Italian defense has given up a lot of good looks; they can't expect France to miss those chances.

At least none of the winners' games has come down to the hated penalty-kick shootouts. In fact, here's a strange tidbit: Three teams have won a game on PKs during this tournament; each has lost their next game in a shutout.