Mr. Sauerkraut's Fever

Hi again! I'm writing this post several hours after watching the final game of the world cup. I was pulling for Germany but unfortunately they lost to Italy in the semi-finals. My other favorite team, England also lost earlier in the tournament. So this left me me rooting for either Italy or France to win it all. I decided to pull for France ass I really like Arsenal's Thierry Henry and Real Madrid's Zidane. I felt going into the final match that Italy had made it here mostly thanks to the play of their goalie and if they win it all it would be because of him alone. In several matches this World Cup Italy appeared to be in poor condition at the end of the game. Well, unfortunately Italy's goalie had another magnificent game, stopping several spectacular shot attempts, including Zidane's amazing header in overtime. Italy prevailed in penalty kicks to win the 2006 edition of the world cup. France defiantly deserved to win as they pressed to score while Italy looked as though they were praying to take the game to penalty kicks and take their chances there. Congratulations to the Italian fans out there; I don't feel as the best "team" won but the one who had the most luck over the past month combined with this tournament's best goalie. This final had an ugly moment late in the match as Zidane head butted an Italian player late in the game. The Italian player had it coming as several of the French players stated that had been letting racial slurs fly all game. If this is indeed true, hopefully FIFA will following their newly adopted rules to reign in racism and suspend and fine.. the Italian player. Overall, this was an enjoyable world cup, despite the poor American commentaries, and unlike 2002 when the games were played in Japan and South Korea, (and thus broadcasted in the dead of the night here in the U.S.) I watched about 50 of the 64 games. Well, that's all for tonight, take care and start the countdown for World Cup 2010 in South Africa.