Australia and Ukraine were the best performing surprises, but they were both eliminated by Italy in the second round and the quarters respectively. After a tough group (Ghana, Czech Republic and USA), Italy's path was clear. Although the Azzurri had to struggle for 95 minutes to pass the round of 16, Totti scored a penalty kick generously conceded by the referee. The quarter with Ukraine was a piece of cake (3-0), but next Lippi's lads clashed with the hosts in the semifinal. After the legendary 1970 semifinal, another Italy vs Germany made history. From a brilliant pass by Pirlo, Grosso scored the opener at 119th minute. The TV replays were just finishing when Del Piero scored the second after a deadly counter-attack.
Celebrations in Italy lasted until the following morning: the country has just reconciliated with its football team. After that amazing win, the Azzurri found their archenemies: the French. Six years earlier, les Bleus snatched the European title from Italy with a cruel golden-goal. France were even stronger than 1998 (when they won the title) as they had some deluxe new-entries: Vieira, Makélélé, Ribéry and Henry, who were alongside the immense Zinedine Zidane. France had to ride over tougher obstacles to reach the final: they chased out Spain, Brazil and Portugal after the Group phase. In the final, Materazzi equalised a penalty kick scored by Zidane. The game was extremely balanced when – with five minutes to go in the second half of extra-time – Zidane slammed a headbutt into the chest of Materazzi. He was expelled with the help of the TV replay, as the referee didn't spot it. The French ace said that he went berserk after a grim provocation from the Italian defender. Shocked by their leaders' expulsion, France lost in the penalty shootout, where the Italians were simply perfect: 5 goals out of 5. For les Bleus, Trezeguet's mistake was fatal. Trezeguet, the man who scored that fatal golden-goal. Revenge was complete.
Fabio Cannavaro. The Italy captain who won the 2006 World Cup was a podgy and short defender from Naples, but despite appearances, Fabio Cannavaro was a fast player and more, he was very skilled at defending high balls. Although the best player of Germany 2006 was officially Zidane, there are few doubts that Cannavaro was Italy's key player and the most amazing footballer in the tournament. He showed off all his key attributes during that month: surgical tackles, anticipations, total leadership of the defence and maximum concentration from the first to the last minute of the tournament. Thanks to his World Cup performances, Cannavaro was elected FIFA World Cup Player and won the 2006 Ballon d'Or. That was an even more amazing achievement because he was a defender; Matthias Sammer was the last player to win that prize playing in a defensive role and since 2006 the Golden Ball has been awarded to forwards alone: Kakà, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Germany 2006 was the pinnacle of Cannavaro's long career. With the Under-21 team he won two European titles in 1994 and 1996. In the senior team, no one has been captain of la Nazionale for so long: 79 games with the captain's band and, with 136 caps, Cannavaro is Italy's second most-capped player ever, behind Gianluigi Buffon. Cannavaro's story with Italy started in 1990 in a very peculiar way: he was one of the ball-boys during the unlucky semifinal against Argentina. He past the first years of his career at “his” Napoli, but it was at Parma where he became a renowned defender. With the Crociati he raised two Coppa Italia, one Italian Supercup and the UEFA Cup in seven seasons; he then he signed for a glorious – and fallen – club: Inter. That was a forgettable experience as Cannavaro won nothing and played largely below his standards. In his following two seasons with Juventus he won two Italian titles hands-down. That Juventus, led by Fabio Capello, was one of the greatest ever but those victories were cancelled by the verdicts of Calciopoli. Then came his beautiful World Cup experience. Cannavaro didn't follow Juventus into Serie B as he signed for Real Madrid where he reunited with Fabio Capello. In Spain, Cannavaro won other two national titles before returning – for one season – to Juve. Cannavaro closed his career in Dubai wearing the shirt of Al-Ahli.
Alessandro Del Piero. Del Piero's story is rich with contradictions and apparent paradoxes. He was beloved, even adored abroad, but always criticised in Italy. Public opinion and critics often split into two camps concering Del Piero. He was dubbed “Pinturicchio” by Gianni Agnelli (he who gave to Roberto Baggio the nickname “Raffaello”). The iconic image of Del Piero's World Cup is his goal against Germany in the semifinal after a fast counter-attack and, obviously, his converted penalty in the shoot-out in the final against France. The 2006 World Cup was cathartic for Pinturicchio, after years of harsh critics and bad performances in Azzurro. His first important tournament was France '98, when he was “smashed” by a continuous dual with Baggio. The Codino (Ponytail) was a talent beloved by everyone, whereas Del Piero was a Juventus' player first of all and Juventus, as we know, is a club with as many fans as enemies in Italy. In France, Del Piero arrived carrying a muscular injury and was a shadow of himself. Despite this, coach Cesare Maldini always sent him on the pitch, exposing him to poor performances. Let's jump forward two years: it's 2000 and the final game of the European Championship is taking place in Rotterdam and Del Piero misses two clear goal chances. One while Italy were leading would have sent his team 2-0 up and the other, with the score levelled at 1-1, would have been the golden-goal. Unfortunately for him, the golden-goal was scored by Frenchman Trezeguet. Del Piero was blamed for that shattering defeat; but what kind of player was Del Piero? At the beginning of his career he was mainly a trequartista, but he played higher, as second-forward, for the majority of his career. Technical finesse, a rare insight of the game for such an attacking footballer, he was a good dribbler and a set-piece hit man. Another Del Piero speciality was the diagonal shot to the opposite post from just outside the box, dubbed a “gol alla Del Piero” in Italy.
Let's speak the truth, after the bad injury he suffered at the end of 1998 his pace and dribbling never recovered. That incident influenced in an obviously negative way his following two seasons. In that period, many critics – and even some Juve fans – started to question whether Del Piero's career was over, at least at the highest level. Del Piero's best years were the first and the last stages of his career: from 1996 to 1998 he was the best Italian player: dribbles, goals and fantastic talent at the service of Juventus, who won everything in that period: Scudetto, Coppe Italia and 1995-96 Champions League. Then came the post-injury period and then another golden two-year period for Juventus, with Fabio Capello as coach between 2004 and 2006, despite Del Piero seeing many of those triumphal matches from the bench. He confirmed his love to Juventus in 2006, when he stayed although the team was condemned to relegation; he then became Serie B top goalscorer, helping the Bianconeri to return in Serie A. He bettered that feat the following Serie A campaign by becoming capocannoniere. Pinturicchio became the post Calciopoli leader and he had the satisfaction to win the Scudetto again – his sixth – with his former team-mate as manager: Antonio Conte. Del Piero has been an icon and record holder at Juventus. His records are numerous: most appearances and official goals in Serie A (705 and 290) and most appearances and goals in European competitions (130 and 54). However, Juventus decided to unceremoniously dump him in 2012. The new president Andrea Agnelli decided to stop the new contract negotiations, so Del Piero said farewell to the Bianconeri community on May 13th 2012. Everybody was crying, him and the fans. Del Piero ended his career in a totally different world, a club totally untied to his past (exactly what he wanted) in Sydney. In Australia he kept delighting the fans, who weren't used to see so much talent in their club's jersey.
Francesco Totti. The best player in the 2000s was close to missing the 2006 World Cup. He had an extraordinary recovery after a bad injury he suffered to his left foot just four months before the tournament. Totti managed to join his team-mates in Germany and although he clearly wasn't at his maximum, he left his mark in the round of 16 against Australia by scoring a crucial last-minute penalty. The image of Francesco Totti is tied in an indissoluble way to AS Roma. He is, by far, the most important player ever in Roma's history, the man who played the most matches and scored the most goals with the Giallorossi. But, above all, Totti was born in Rome and he always played (and keeps playing) for the same team: the one he supports since he was a child. His one is a story of loyalty and passion that might belong to some decades ago, especially because Totti received many offers during his career, from Milan and Real Madrid especially. Totti is an unprecedented kind of player in Italy. He's a total footballer: he has the class and the fantasy of a number ten, the power and the goal-instinct of a number nine and the insight of the game typical of a regista. He's the physical evolution of the classic short Italian “fantasista” (Rivera, Baggio, Zola). Despite his huge technique, Totti was never obsessed by dribbles. He always prefers to make the ball run, able to deliver a perfect assist from 30-40 metres. The amazing thing is that those passes are often without looking. Even if he doesn't like “Brazilian” tricks, Totti has always delighted football fans with many specialities. One of these is the lob, or “cucchiaio”. The first time he showed such magic was in the penalty-shoot out in the 2000 European championship semifinal against Netherlands. But Totti applied the “cucchiaio” art in open play also: this goal against Inter is persuasive proof.
In the overture of his career, Totti was basically deployed as a second striker or a trequartista. The arrival of Luciano Spalletti as Roma coach in 2005 was a turning point for “il Capitano”, at least from a tactical point of view. Spalletti converted Totti into an atypical and devastating striker. Sometimes – especially in Spalletti's era - he was deployed a “false nine” who created spaces for the midfielders' attacking raids. His new position bore fruit in 2006-2007, when Totti was Serie A top goalscorer and won the Golden Boot as best European goal-scorer with 26 goals in Italy. With 235 goals today, Totti is the most prolific active striker in Italy and the second ever behind Silvio Piola. After the 2006 injury, he suffered another injury to his knee the following year. In the latest seasons his physical problems increased but Totti remains a crucial player for Roma. His life-style is aimed to play as long as possible: his huge performances at 37 prove he's doing it right. Totti won his only Italian title in 2000-2001, two Coppa Italia and two Italian Supercups. Could he have won more? Certainly he deserved more trophies, probably a Ballon d'Or, but elsewhere he wouldn't have the same love from the people, nor the tranquility to be the best ever. Totti closed his spell with Italy with 58 caps and 9 goals after having raised the World Cup in Berlin. Follow @Federico
