Italy survives vicious finale

France lost its leader and then the shootout in the World Cup Championship.
BERLIN (AP) -- The beautiful game turned vicious, even venomous Sunday.
It was all still beautiful to Italy.
And very ugly for France, which lost captain Zinedine Zidane with a red card after his nasty head butt in extra time, and then went down 5-3 in a shootout after a 1-1 draw.
Explanations were non-existent for Zidane's action in the 110th minute of his farewell game. He was walking upfield near defender Marco Materazzi when, in his final act for his national team, he bashed his shaven head into Materazzi's chest.
"I have not seen the replays, but if it's voluntary then there's nothing you can say," France coach Raymond Domenech said. "But it's a shame. It's sad. He [Materazzi] did a lot of acting and for such a big man, a gust of wind made him fall over."
Regrets
Not quite. Zidane, who is retiring, might have been provoked, but he definitely knocked over Materazzi.
"It's regrettable. We regret it, he regrets it," Domenech said.
Without their leader, the French still had their chance in the shootout. But the Italians, never masters of the penalty kick, made all five, setting off an hour of hugging, dancing and fist-pumping celebrations.
"This squad showed great heart," Gennaro Gattuso said. "Maybe it wasn't pretty, but we were hard to beat."
They were impossible to beat and gave up only one goal actually scored by an opponent. And no, it was not pretty.
Outplayed for an hour and into extra time, the Italians won it after Zidane committed the ugliest act of a tournament that set records for yellow and red cards, diving and, at times, outright brutality.
Weighed in outcome
Asked if French soccer would miss Zidane, Domenech said:
"Yes, well, he was missed in the last 20 minutes tonight. It weighed heavily in the outcome."
Without their leader for the shootout, the French only missed once. But Italy was perfect. Fabio Grosso clinched the Azzurri's fourth championship, and his teammates had to chase him halfway across the pitch to celebrate.
"It's incredibly emotional. Words can hardly describe it," Grosso said. "Maybe we still don't realize what we have achieved. We really wanted to win and in the end we made it."
Only Brazil has more World Cups, five.
Until now, no team since the last Azzurri champions in 1982 had to endure the stress and anguish of a soccer scandal. Rather than be disrupted by the current probe ripping apart the national sport back home, the Italians survived.
Inspiration
"If the scandal hadn't happened I think we wouldn't have won the World Cup," Gattuso said. "It has given us more strength."
Verdicts in the match-fixing trial that could relegate four teams -- and 13 of Italy's 23 players -- to lower divisions are expected next week.
France underwent a renaissance of its own in the last month. The French, racked by dissension, nearly went out in the first round for the second straight World Cup, and then Zidane turned them around. They controlled the flow of play Sunday, only to fail to finish through 120 minutes.
Their only goal, Zidane's penalty kick in the seventh minute, was the lone score by an Italy opponent in seven games.
But the Italians put the ball into the net 12 minutes later on Materazzi's header off a corner kick. And then they held on in a game marked by sloppiness and maliciousness.
Rarely did Italy threaten over the final 75 minutes. But the Azzurri ignored recent history -- they lost a quarterfinal shootout to France in 1998, when Les Bleus went on to their only championship.
Andrea Pirlo, Materazzi, Daniele De Rossi and Alessandro Del Piero all easily beat France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez in the shootout. The difference was the miss by rarely used David Trezeguet, which hit the crossbar on France's second attempt.
When Grosso connected with his left foot, the sliver of Italian fans in the opposite corner of Olympic Stadium finally could let out their breath -- and screams of victory.
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