France 1-2 Italy
Stade Louis II
night, summer, fine
5*
15 minutes each half
both teams on
green arrows.
France starting 11
.............................Barthez............................
.......Sagnol.......Thuram....Silvestre.......Lizarazu..
.......................Vieira(C).......Makalele...............
....................Pires........................Zidane........
...................................................................
.....................................Henry.......................
.....................Trezeguet.................................
Italy starting 11
.................................Buffon(C)......................
.......Panucci.......Materazzi...Nesta........Favalli....
......................................Gatusso...................
....Camoranesi.................................................
.....................................................Zambrotta.
.............................Totti................................
....................................................................
.........................................Di Vaio.................
.......................Vieri......................................
1 minute - A sloppy pass from Thuram which Di Vaio intercepted. He dribbled past Thuram before hitting a shot from just inside the box off the bar and out for a goal kick.
4 minutes - Pires runs down the right wing, he puts in a low cross, which Trezeguet connects to with a diving header, but it is nowhere near challenging Buffon.
19 minutes - Totti hits a shot from 25 yards, just over the bar.
20 minutes - An Italy free kick on the left wing. Totti passes it to the edge of the box where a first time shot by Zambrotta goes harmlessly over the bar.
26 minutes - A poor headed back pass from Thuram leaves Barthez in a race with Vieri to the ball, the Frenchman just wins the race and picks it up on the righthand edge of his box.
28 minutes - Italy coach new about his defenders' weakness in the air and it showed when a Zidane corner from the right was headed in by an unchallenged Trezeguet. 1-0 to France.
33 minutes - A free kick from Totti in the centre of the pitch 22 metres from goal. His shot is parried back into the goal mouth by Barthez, unfortunately for Makalele the ball hits off him and rolls into an empty net. 1-1.
39 minutes - Camoranesi is booked for a foul on Zidane near the centre circle.
45 minutes - Totti pass out left to Zambrotta who puts in a first time cross from the wing. The low cross hits off Lizarazu, who attempts to clear it. His clearance is blocked by Totti and it falls kindly to him just outside the six yard box, his shot is saved by Barthez, but Vieri beats Thuram to the rebound and heads it in. Italy have a 2-1 lead.
stoppage time - A right footed cross by Zambrotta on the edge of the box which Marco Di Vaio nearly gets his head to. This is the last piece of action in the first half.
...........................................half time statistics
.............................France.........................Italy
................................2............shots............7..
................................1............offside...........2..
................................3............fouls..............2..
................................0............yellows...........1..
................................0.............reds..............0..
................................4............free kicks........4..
................................1............corners...........0..
................................0...........penalties..........0..
...............................49........posession (%).....51.
Second half
59 minutes - France get a corner, Italy however, are resolute and clear any danger.
59-70 minutes - Not much to say, Italy dominate the posession but neither team makes any chances.
80 minutes - France had been ready to bring on Saha since the 70th minute but the ball refused to go out of play until now.
82 minutes - Claude Makalele is booked for a foul in midfield on Christian Vieri.
The free kick is kicked long by Nesta, Vieri gets his head to it inside the box and knocks it back outside the box to Totti, who hits a spectacular volley from 25 metres just wide of the target.
87 minutes - After a good attacking spell from Italy, Zidane hits a clearance approximately 10 metres forward,

, Totti beats Vieira in the air and head it to Di Vaio on the edge of the box. He controls it with his chest then makes a perfect pass for a first time strike by Camoranesi, his shot however, is straight at Barthez with no real pace.
stoppage time - Thierry Henry makes space for the first time in the match, but hits his shot far wide of the target.
.......................................full time statistics
.............................France.....................Italy.
...............................5...........shots..........9...
...............................1.........offside..........4...
...............................4..........fouls............2...
...............................1..........yellows.........1...
...............................0...........reds............0...
...............................6.........free kicks.......5...
...............................2.........corners..........0...
...............................0..........penalties.......0..
...............................47.....posession (%)...53.
Barthez - 5.5.............................Buffon - 5.5
Lizarazu - 4.5............................Favalli - 6.5
Silvestre - 4.0...........................Nesta - 7.0
Thuram - 4.5............................Materazzi - 6.5
Sagnol - 5.5.............................Panucci - 6.0
Makalele - 3.5...........................Gatusso - 7.0
Vieira - 5.0...............................Totti - 6.5
Zidane - 7.0.............................Zambrotta - 6.5
Pires - 5.0................................Camoranesi - 6.0
Henry - 4.0 [

]..........................Di Vaio - 6.0
Trezeguet - 5.0.........................Vieri - 6.5
Saha - 3.5................................................
Man of the Match goes to Alessandro Nesta who was given the task of marking Thierry Henry, he lived up to the task and showed the world why he is recognised by most as the world's best defender.