Italy's goal

i still get goosebumps!!!

First and foremost I am NOT a Brasil fan. I was born in England and the only national team I support is my them. But let's leave England out of this because the less said about my own national team the better. I fondly remember the 2002 World Cup and in my opinion that Brasil team were the best Brasil team since at least the 80's with Socrates etc. And that's saying something considering the 94 team won the World Cup as well.

Your argument against the 2002 Brasil team is very flawed since you claim they played ugly attacking football yet that is exactly the style that Italy played in 2006 and continue to do so. And it is even worse because Italy are far more defensive minded.
The 2002 tournament was a unique one in that none of the big teams were really any good- Argentina/Portugal/France out in the group stage, Italy and Spain eliminated by S Korea, England bottling it again.

Like I say, Korea's run to the semi final was extremely dubious, and so Italy and Spain probarbly should have progressed further. But even so, you can't argue that either of the two played outstandingly well anyway- Italy only gained 4 points in thier group!
So if Brasil were "controversial winners" (as continentalop99 said) then who, in your opinion should have won it?

And as for your argument that Brasil had an easier road than Germany: If you consider Paraguay, USA and Korea bigger tests than Belgium, England and Turkey then you really don't know your stuff as much as you'd like to think. Sure, BOTH teams should have had harder paths to the final, but how was that possible when most of the big teams were already out?!?

In regards to the 06 Brasil team- what does that have to do with this argument? Like I say, I am not a Brasil fan, so any insult against Brasil means nothing to me. I am the first to say that on paper, the 06 team should have licked everybody there. But the game isn't played on paper, and they deservedly lost. They weren't even a hundredth of the attacking team the 02 Brasil team was.

Italy was playing Germany in a stadium that they had never lost in since its creation. And still they came up with a stunning 2-0 victory.

Face it -- Italy going into the tournament was severely under rated -- and had allowed very few goals to some strong competition (Czech Republic, USA, Ukraine, Germany, France). And if you want to make fun of the teams mentioned -- two of them knocked off Brazil and Argentine.

Get over it -- Italy is the champions, and Brazil isn't. No matter what you say!

Brazil's road to the final (Turkey, China, Costa Rica, Belgium, England, Turkey and then Germany). Does that sound tougher than Italy's in '06? If that team had faced either Italy or Spain in the final, they would have been in big trouble.

And moreover the '06 Brazilians were dubbed the strongest Brazilian team in recent memory.

They were easily tossed aside by France. And to further respond to your ignorance. Germany was the strongest team in the tournament in '06.

ps. Lord Ant -- Forza Italia!