Finals Fantasy end of tournament round-up thing - part 4

What did you make of it, then?

An odd tournament, that. The group stages went up like a house on fire, with games that if not exactly producing many classics at least keyed us up for what was to come, full of attacking play, intrigue, great goals, rank stupidity and edge of the seat stuff. Then the knockouts themselves were an odd mixture of games which contained no attacking impetus whatsoever - whatever England's varying crises, did Portugal make a single move of note in that game? - and a few barnstormers. It's also the most worldly World Cup I can remember, if you see what I mean, as through the expansion in our understanding of the international game's development we knew everything about everyone, which given even the likes of South Korea and Senegal were still larely unaccounted for four years ago is quite something.

Best defensive player

Sorry to be obvious, but Fabio Cannavaro was inspirational at the back, seemingly trying at times to do everyone's job and marshalling the back line with rare authority throughout. A word for Philipp Lahm, though, who nearly missed the tournament through injury but with a driving forward style might now be the world's best left-back.

Best attacking player

What does Miroslav Klose do for 47 months at a time? You never hear of anyone coming in for him or anything special he might do in club football, but he's now in the finals ten goal club. Not the greatest technician in the world, but he's everything you want in a target man and in a tournament where there was a dearth of genuine quality from the much hyped strikers he offered a way forward by looking back. Or something.

Biggest letdown

Ronaldinho. Yes, yes, it's all very well working back to support your team-mates, but that's not what either we wanted or you were best. Also the failure of any of 2002's success story sides to build on their promise and the lack of South American fans willing to go just that little bit too far.

Item you'd track down for the National Football Museum

The Iranian big framed square of carpet! That'd make an interesting conversation piece at dinner parties.

Best pundit

Martin O'Neill was only a late entrant to the BBC ranks, of course, and how we would have missed his flights of fancy that always turn round and eventually make sense (after a fashion) no matter how much waffling has got him back there. He's also dead on when he wants to be succinct. Not a pundit, I know, but how much more proof do we need of Adrian Chiles' offhand brilliance?

Best commentator

The criticism you occasionally hear of the BBC's roster below the Motson/Pearce front line is how nobody can apparently tell the difference between any of them. Well, make the effort, then. Steve Wilson has had his second great World Cup in a row, Simon Brotherton is equally capable if not so enthusiastic, and to prove Network Centre seems to have some sort of vortex around it Guy Mowbray has emerged from commercial telly hell to establish his voice.

Worst pundit

I know they're undergoing a cash crisis, but it's no wonder the BBC managed a record lead in the final head-to-head if ITV seriously believe we here in 2006 still want to hear David Pleat for a whole game. Tactically astute, I agree, but it's the bits around that that grate, although at least he was up on Gareth Southgate's ill-fated attempts at mateyness. Ruud Gullit seemed to be straining his brain trying to think of something of interest to add and often failing, while over in the Berlin studio Leonardo's command of syntax, and everything else, often seemed to desert him. Let's, however, go for Robbie Earle, now into his fifth glorious season of adding nothing to anything.

Worst commentator

It's been fascinating watching the press work themselves into a lather about how Everybody Hates Motson Now, not least that ludicrous statistic about the number of people using the interactive option and thus Turning Motson Off. Yeah, there's a couple of other options on there too, and they're available even when there aren't games on. You'll notice these are the same organisations that don't seem to query ITV's motives as much, even when they're still employing Peter Drury, who as ever was like Barry Davies without the ability to get out of florid mode and into plain commentary.

Main lesson learned about the game over the last month

That there's no such thing as a sure thing (cf Jose Pekerman), that every World Cup is doomed to the biggest international stars flopping drastically, and that actually writing up a load of notes into a coherent structure is difficult.

It's been fun, this, hasn't it?

When I wasn't giving myself eight games to concurrently type up over one of the hottest weekends of the year, yes, it's been fun watching the ideas flow and a group of contributors (who I thank wholeheartedly, and again apologise for keeping indoors during the great heatwave of 2006) come up with brilliant stuff. We didn't get any national press attention, but sod them. While I'm here I should mention my own football blog, which will be relaunched in August unless I can't be bothered.

So, consider this the shutters being brought down on Finals Fantasy, which, it's fair to say has been an experience. Join us, possibly, in 2010. Or 2008.

Credits
Contributors: Adam Keyte, Skif, Matt Sullivan, Simon Tyers, Ben Woolhead
Technical support: Blogger


FINALS FANTASY 2006 - where do they get their energy from?

Finals Fantasy end of tournament round-up thing - part 3

What did you make of it, then?

Before the tournament, I was more keyed up than I’d been since 1990, when I was flush with the exuberance of youth. There were moments of genius, moments of tedium (which every competition needs for the contrast) and some genuinely bizarre diversions within the coverage. Found myself getting very tense within neutral games, which is always a good sign.

Not the best ever perhaps. but certainly an excellent competition that looked brilliant in terms of the organisation. When we stage it again, lets do it like the Germans. Big tellys in the river, all that.

Best defensive player

Take your pick from the Italians, able to nullify the threat of any irresistible force placed in their way.

Best attacking player

The temptation is to say Zidane, thanks to his inventive, “just mind my face” heart-stopping buller but, as has been noted elsewhere, a single performance already won him the writer’s best player gong above several more deserving Italian types.

Otherwise I liked Carlos Tevez for showing some incredibly neat touches whilst looking like a Sunday morning council-pitch dogger who’s recently suffered retribution for pushing crack on someone else’s patch.

Biggest letdown

Being an underdog kind of guy, would have been nice to see one or two unexpected names in the quarters but the good will out, I guess.

Sepp Blatter still being unable to offer no comment on anything he is ever asked about.

Item you'd track down for the National Football Museum

Dress up 3 mannequins in Otto Pfister’s pub crooner, salmon melt and yacht club touchline get ups.

Carlos Tevez’s head from the shoulders up. Possibly in a big jar.

The soggy digestive found whilst dismantling the BBC’s Berlin studio set. Inside several thickly paned cases, of course.

Best pundit

Yup, it’s got to be Martin O’Neill. Despite the fact he goes down as many blind alleys and explores as much cringeworthy territory as David Pleat with his only-child-that-collects-stamps-and-gets-picked-on-at-school banter, I can’t wait to hear what he’ll come up with next.

Best commentator

I’m in agreement in Ben, Simon Brotherton and Steve Wilson were excellent in the supporting roles. The game Brotherton did with Gavin Peacock early on in the tournament was easily the most impressive pairing in the box.

Worst pundit

Look, a barrel with loads of fish in it. For this and the next section, the ITV crew is far too easy a target, so I shall focus on the few times the Beeb let me down.

The unintentionally funniest, but also revealingly worst punditry moment, it has to be Alan Shearer’s “last 16, it doesn’t get any better than that.” I was just thinking how he was growing into the role when he fires off a reflex cliché without thinking it through.

Also Hansen saying the third place play-off first half was great then changing his mind once O’Neill had grumpily poo-poo’ed the entire affair. The leader has become a follower.

Got a bit bored with Marcel Desailly as the tournament went on too.

Worst commentator

Like I say, I can’t warm to any of the ITV team. On the BBC, Jonathan Pearce yowls out his pre-anthems crib sheet like a wounded seal. Aside from that, I've been fairly happy.

Main lesson learned over the last month

That Willkommen zum Fussball is such a complex German phrase it needs instant translation.

It's been fun, this, hasn't it?

Too right, thanks to my FF colleagues and especially to Simon for putting it together. Writing for this thing certainly allowed me to really delve into the action and, more specifically, the broadcasting of said action, which keeps you attentive as, to be fair, my attention span struggles with televised football. Nothing beats the real thing. Do I ever wish my application for tickets had been one of the lucky ones.

So, Austria-Switzerland 2008, what are we doing? No sleep ‘til the Wankdorf.

Finals Fantasy end of tournament round-up thing - part 2

What did you make of it, then?

Pace. Power. Precision. Technique. Oh, sorry, just came over all Alan Hansen there...

Well, it was marvellous, wasn't it? In fact, so marvellous that every use of the past tense is making me wince - the World Cup wallchart is staying Blutaked to the fridge for a while yet, at least until I can accept the fact that it really is over.

The consensus amongst pundits and journalists seems to be that (to adapt the tired old cliche) it was a tournament of two halves: the group stages were thrilling, but after that it became as dull as a Southgate co-commentary. There's some truth in that, but knockout games like Argentina v Mexico, Portugal v Holland and the Germany v Italy semi-final were among the very best, while England and France's first two group games were absolutely dire.

Best defensive player

It was a cakewalk for Fabio Cannavaro to claim that title. The Italian skipper was magnificent from first whistle to last, and no-one more deserved to lift the trophy than him. If he does end up following his former manager at Juve Fabio Cappello to the Bernabeu, as is rumoured, then Real Madrid might once again be a force to be reckoned with.

Mention should also be made of Cannavaro's team-mate Gianluca Zambrotta, as adventurous and influential going forwards as he was solid at the back, but the side whose defence collectively most impressed me was Mexico. Matt singled out their captain Rafael Marquez, and certainly his ability to drift effortlessly into midfield and drive his team forward was impressive - but he was only able to do so because Ricardo Osorio is such an accomplished sweeper. He was superb, never flustered or hurried and even himself able to play as a right winger towards the frantic conclusion of the match against Argentina.

Best attacking player

The pundit's / journalist's consensus is right on this one: there were very few attacking players who grasped the opportunity and really shone.

The hyperbole about Zidane before his sending-off in the final was as ludicrous as the debate about whether young Master Rooney deliberately set out to squash Ricardo Carvalho's tomatoes - he might have taken Brazil apart almost single-handedly in the quarter-final, but he was ineffective if not plain rubbish in the first two group games and was suspended for the third. People have short memories. There's no way he should have been named the tournament's best player above Cannavaro, and indeed there were many others more deserving.

So, at the risk of offending Sun readers everywhere, I'll say Cristiano Ronaldo. He might be a whining, preening, diving little winker, but he was by far the most dangerous player on the pitch in the games against England and France.

Biggest letdown

What, other than England's inevitable quarter-final exit on penalties?

It would have to be Argentina. How on earth, with that squad and after that exquisite demolition of Serbia & Montenegro, they didn't walk it is beyond me.

Item you'd track down for the National Football Museum

The collection of splinters gathered from benches in Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Cologne, Stuttgart and Gelsenkirchen by Theo Walcott’s bottom. Or the pause between a Garth Crooks statement-of-supposed-fact and a supposedly-hard-hitting-question. Rather more difficult to lay your hands on, I imagine, would be Frank Lampard's ability to hit a cow's arse with a banjo.

Best pundit

Oh the agony of choice...

Martin O'Neill, hands down. Possibly my favourite moment of the whole tournament was when, after footage of Leonardo showing off his ball skills, Ray Stubbs asked O'Neill if he wanted to join the "Leo love-in". The Irishman responded with a long tongue-in-cheek whinge about him being a very talented and good-looking chap and being "a bit sick of it all", before adding: "He's not the sort of boy you'd want to go to a disco with".

Best commentator

Slim pickings again.

The BBC's lesser lights probably have it - Simon Brotherton and Steve Wilson. Mainly for being informative without being annoyingly obtrusive or grasping with a spectacular lack of dignity for the "clever thing to say".

Worst pundit

Where to start?

Well, the BBC very definitely won this one. Even Ian Wright - a children's TV presenter in another life - failed to grate anywhere near as much as I'd imagined he would, and, having written Leonardo off in the first week, I have to concede he was half-decent. (That said, Mark Lawrenson's off-mic guffaws were increasingly irritating.)

ITV, on the other hand, seemed to have picked wrong 'un after wrong 'un. Jay-Jay Okocha was pretty much comatose, Ally McCoist insisted on prefacing everything he said with "What I like about him is..." and Gareth Southgate could have bored the trousers off Eugene from last year's 'Big Brother' (Don't remember him? It doesn't matter).

David Pleat was obviously in a league of his own when it came to pronunciation and the profligate use of adjectives.

But the award has to go to Sir Terence of Venables, shortly to be on the England staff once again (if rumours are to be believed) in a bid to relive the glory days of 1966 1996. His ability to talk nonsense, even when accompanied by demonstrative hand gestures, was impressive. He seemed to have been taking his cue from the one and only Sir Bobby Robson, managing to lose track of what he was saying not only within a sentence but within a clause.

Worst commentator

Jon Champion proved himself the master of overstatement (and thereby fully justified Des Lynam's criticism of him), while Jonathan Pearce disappointed by repeatedly grasping for the crutch of endless statistics and even Motty appeared to have lost the plot, continually getting players' names wrong and, in the France v Portugal semi-final, covering up comments about Ronaldo's diving and Carvalho's being "involved in the Rooney incident" (yes, as the bloke who got his stotts stood on) with a pathetically apologetic "if you think this is just sour grapes from an Englishman...".

Clive Tyldesley did well to be the worst of the lot, then, didn't he? A round of (sarcastic) applause.

Main lesson learned about the game over the last month

Steven Gerrard, Francesco Totti and Roberto Carlos advertising Pringles? Pele advertising Puma? Michael Owen advertising Asda and Dominos Pizza? That everyone can be bought, everyone's for sale (to bastardise the Manic Street Preachers' lyrics).

Or, to be less cynical, that a watertight defence is what every great team is founded upon. Take note Glenn Roeder.

And that football can be predictable at times ie that, after thrashing S&M 6-0 and beating Ivory Coast 2-1 in a brilliant game, Argentina and Holland respectively would serve up a dull game while the last ten minutes of Tunisia v Saudi Arabia would be among the most thrilling of the entire tournament.

It's been fun, this, hasn't it?

Indeed it has (apart from the Pleat matches I had to report on). I'd do it again in an instant. It's going to be painful going back to the relative mundanity of Black & White & Read All Over and the meagre fare of Newcastle's Intertoto campaign, which kicks off on Saturday. Thanks to Simon for setting up the blog and subsequently organising things, and to my fellow contributors for their always enjoyable reports.

I guess if I was going to really go out in style I ought to headbutt you in the chest, but you'd have to call my mother a terrorist whore first.

France v Italy, BBC1

Inevitably, Gary starts outside, promising "the last chapter of a tale that began a month ago" by a statue of a pile of books to the usual dramatic choral music. "They came from all over the world to take part and we've ended with two nations who popped in from next door" is how he sums up the finale, even if you can then guess where his big "they said they were over the hill..." spiel is going - Shearer, Hansen and O'Neill. The focus of the build-up is whether "ageing legs" can get through at least ninety minutes, as if they're all going to collapse at about the 55 mark if they're lucky. Gary senses "pangs of history" in the venue alone, which is an interesting choice of words given what it was built for, as the other mainspring of the hour's build-up, Zidane, comes into play, Hansen reckoning "if he doesn't play that well tonight he'll be remembered for sentimental reasons". As opposed to? The more pragmatic O'Neill reveals "Gattuso - he's become my hero".

Damien Johnson is fronting our first report on a bridge a long way away from the camera in a Hanover castle where France have been based, having "been like aristocrats" just to fit the mood. Why do BBC Sport voiceover translators always sound so weedy? Seemingly jolted into action unexpectedly Gary assures us "the French team is, er, largely as expected." Garth gets Italy and wastes it by asking Lippi about Manchester Utd, getting the expected response from someone who'd be more at home talking up the possibilities of what Gary refers to as "their firth...fourth win". Ray's on gantry duty today with a shouting Desailly wearing his actual signed final shirt over his actual shirt. He hopes France have "much more sprint, much more all the final wins", as he is wont to do. He also reveals Aime Jacquet didn't go in for team talks, which Gary picks up on: "The key to great management - say nothing!" After Leonardo has met Gianluca Vialli with little consequence it's, hurrah, the moments of the tournament! Hansen, Strachan and McCarthy are agreed on Argentina's multi-pass eventual Goal Of The Tournament, Shearer and Crooks plump for Joe Cole, Hansen, Strachan and McCarthy Arg 2nd v S&M; Shearer, Crooks J Cole; Dixon, Bhasin and Peacock for Maxi Rodriguez, Mowbray and Wright go for Graham Poll - literally - Chiles talks about Brazil-Croatia ("I just had goose flesh all over me"), Celina Hinchcliffe promotes that nebulous concept, 'atmosphere', Desailly and Pearce go for Germany v Costa Rica, Dowie mentions Fernando Torres, Leonardo salutes Ronaldo's record, Brotherton nominates Totti's penalty, only Mark Bright names Italy v Germany, Johnson, Stubbs and O'Neill salute Zidane again and Motson, often first to the oddest selection, mentions the "emotional" Zidane and Figo swapping shirts. We also get reminded by Iain Dowie of his own phone faux pas and Lawrenson reminds us of the pundits around a pub table during Mexico v Iran. No Wilson, oddly. Gary then reminds us anyway of "the quality of the punditry" just so they can laugh at Hansen. "Get your money on France quick!" seems to be the punchline.

After a chat between Chiles and Noel Gallagher that's very nice for both but goes nowhere Ray returns with Leonardo explaining why he wants Italy to win. We're not entire sure what he was getting at. Then you start to really wonder whether maybe this started a little early as a profile of the actual stadium involves Adrian having to read a poem from its perspective and have the good grace not to sound too embarrassed. "The Brummie bard at his brilliant best" Gary covers. Oh look, another Zidane tribute, and this one in slo-mo. Everyone hopes he'll come good but as O'Neill, who seems to have a theme building, pricks our collective conscious "Gattuso doesn't do sentiment, does he?" Shearer tries manfully to talk clips of Henry up, "Wiltord should break his neck to get there" a particular highlight. He's predicting penalties while Martin wonders about the keepers, "one brilliant, one bold". Gary sends us off with some stats that bode both ways and hands to Motson, who decides to read off the clubs of the whole French starting eleven and seems disappointed that there will be players from the tournament not in the final. That's how the cookie crumbles, John.

First half:
- "This match needs to kick off at 8pm local time exactly. Mark Lawrenson, can you fill thirty seconds for me?"
- "Well, perhaps there is drama in the first minute" as Henry goes down briefly. Lawrenson helpfully adds "there's always that element of doubt, you're really waiting for the player to tell you".
- Motson on yellows: "If they get a second card...well, if you get two tonight it's different..."
- "This is Malouda - oh, Malouda goes down! Penalty!" Both seem non-commital about the call, but not about "a war of nerves between one of the world's great players and one of the world's best goalkeepers" "Oh, it's hit the underside of the bar and is it over the line? Goal has been given! Goal has been given!" Mark: "I'm not quite sure whether the penalty was cool enough, were you?"
- "From a neutral perspective, is that not the best thing that can happen?"
- "Musn't overwhelm you with these things..." Motson admits after reeling off a load of stats
- The Lawrenson thesaurus is back out - "he doesn't know whether to stick or twist, does he, Barthez?"
- "Marcello Lippi - biting his lip, and not surprisingly".
- "Referee's had to sort out a bit of nonsense there. Materazzi climbing - and it's the equaliser!" All happening, all told. "Would you believe that?" Lawrenson declares of the towering header that "he was head and shoulders above everybody".
- Lawro sets Motson a question about defenders scoring "it's so rhetorical I don't expect you to answer it. Actually, I probably do."
- Motson on Makelele: "it's like ironing a shirt, isn't he? He irons out all the wrinkles for France." Lawro: "yeah, he's never pressed, is he?" Then Mark refers to "Rivery".
- Ashton-under-Lyme gets its obligatory mention 32 minutes in, Motson reeling off his family history before admitting "that's absolutely all I know about him!"
- "Materazzi is there yet again - and yet again!"
- "It's still sweltering here in the commentary box...oh, that's a better picture, isn't it?" as a woman comes into view. Yeah, cheers.

At half time Gary compares it to the 1974 final, more in hope than anything, admitting "tactically it's fascinating". A double edged verbal sword if ever there was one. We get shots of Rome and Milan, Shearer commenting "great scenes" for both. Apparently "we've had emails" about whether the corner for Italy's goal went out of play, everyone judging on the slo-mo that it probably didn't quite. Ray has the two foreign pundits with him and they're as comfortable with the surroundings and language as ever, Leonardo referring to "a big demonstration of how they are inside the match" while Marcel starts with a camp "ooooh!". Ray manages to silence both by suggesting they might be required should it go much longer. The thought of attacking options is all the filip they need in the studio, Alan filling brief dead air by wondering "how good would it be to lift that trophy?" Gary brings him back down with a "It's not gonna happen for us!"

Second half:
- "Mark Lawrenson?" "France have only got ten players out...oh, Zidane." Motson actually timed the length of the break.
- Motson works in "indefatigable" re Grosso. That takes some doing.
- Our director somehow manages to play live coverage and a replay on screen simultaneously.
- "Since he had the knock on the head he's become a different player" is Lawrenson's charitable view as Malouda heads down the wing and nearly crosses onto Ribery's head.
- Vieira goes off to much confusion, especially as neither can understand Perrotta moving right.
- "What's going to happen down there, Mark?" He doesn't quite know but sees De Rossi and Iaquinta. "Be interesting to see if Totti stays on" he ponders, and indeed up his number goes. "Don't think he wants to know, he's walking away with his back - oh, he's seen it now."
- Out of nothing, "Toni closes in!" "Offside, John!" "There was a flag! There was a flag!" "It's a correct decision by the official on the far side, I think." Minutes later, "we've not had a replay of the disallowed goal, have we?" Well, what did you just get a second comment on from then, John? "Having just seen it the once, it might have just been offside against Toni" he eventually concedes.
- "He's just checking to see...oh, Zidane's off!" He's struggling with his shoulder, and as Lawro says "if that's dislocated it's the most painful experience ever". A couple of minutes' worry later, "In fact, he's coming back on!"
- "A lot of promise but not a lot of fulfilment" is how Motson describes it at the end of 90 minutes, the pundits trying not to sound too down. Lawrenson points out of the French team "they got themselves in a circle and did their own team talk - Domenech was two or three yards away from the incident".

Extra time:
- "He's through the legs of Cannavaro!" Really?
- "It's almost walking football, isn't it?" Well, it's you who's been talking about what they've got in their legs all evening. Motson has a plan: "So few goals get scored after extra time I'm wondering if they should start to take penalties after 90 minutes."
- "Ribery....Ribery...Ribery! He should have scored!" "He's gone to pass it..." Lawro says, followed by an indecipherable noise that may well have disguised swearing. Ribery immediately gets subbed.
- "Treze...er, Zambrotta with the throw" Er... Lawrenson's not helping much, analysing "they've sat deeper and deeper and deeper like they're looking for penalties". Motson somewhat disturbingly reckons "he (Barthez) might be the centre of attraction and attention", before remarking "pity, I thought the golden goal was a great idea but FIFA didn't".
- Motson and Lawrenson respectively: "This is interesting, this is Trezeguet, is it?" "Trezeguet, with Materazzi?" "I think it's Zidane, Mark, I think a head may have gone in there" "If the referee has seen that..." "He's off" "The Italians must be saying to the referee that you and your assistants have missed that" "You cannot give something on someone's say-so..." "Lippi has come down the line and been restrained by the fourth official...and the assistant referee has said something, and he's reaching for his card, and he's off!" "As long as they have seen it you can't argue with that." "Zidane's career ends in disgrace" "You can't boo the referee!" "The man who dismissed Rooney for the stamp dismisses Zidane for the head" Motson flourishes.
- It's difficult to tell who's keeping the tighter grip on their emotions, Zinedine or John. "It's chaos here now!" the latter declares before adding "bedlam in Berlin!" It might have seen worse times, John. He's getting frustrated with the lack of attacking, at one point scowling "Toni and Iaquinta would have appreciated a pass there".
- "There's bad blood in the air" John remarks, predicting trouble on the final whistle. There isn't any, and so to penalties, and a noticeable cut back to the box sound

"We've seen it all now" is Alan's curt remark as Gary wonderws before forgetting whether video evidence was covertly used. Everyone agrees that's pretty much all worthy of comment in extra time, so back we go...

Penalties:
- "They're tossing up, clearly". Yeah, alright.
- "Is this the way to World Cup glory?" as the tannoy apparently plays Amarillo. Oh, don't you start, rest of Europe.
- "Materazzi's done just about everything else in this game"
- "Juventus against Juventus - what does Buffon know? He's hit the bar!" "Trezeguet's looking at the referee...", but the grand return of the in-goal camera reveals it didn't cross the line.
- "The next kick can win the World Cup" "Luca Toni?" "Grosso!"
- "He's done it! Italy win the World Cup for the fourth time!"

As Motson overtly declares of Italy "overall you could say they lifted the straightjacket of negativity and donned the cloak of adventure..." we head back to the studio where much is made of Italy coming from a very low place, Alan declaring "any other nation in the world would have struggled with those problems". Much more, obviously, is made of Zidane now they've got time, Leonardo back on the gantry calling him "a symbol of the last generation" while O'Neill ends the speculation on whether Materazzi said anything with "that only happens every 15 seconds in a game". Back to the commentators for the trophy presentation, where they're busy debating the fourth official's role before Lawrenson finds time to spare a thought for Saha, which is more than anyone watching would surely do, and curiously sums up the impending Italian domestic disharmony with "these players are saying get thee behind me, Satan!" The players are behaving very strangely ("never seen headgear like that in a ceremony" "it's some mother's headscarf!"; "Don't break it before you've got it!") with one seemingly missing for the moment - "it'd be nice if we could spot Cannavaro, wouldn't it?" Motson wonders as Materazzi puts a hat on the trophy. "It'd be best to leave that for a few minutes, wouldn't it?" John sagely counsels. Finally, "not so much Cannavaro as can you believe it? On the evening he wins his hundredth cap Italy are four time world champions...That's what they've played for all their life". Leonardo comes back just to clarify that he's only criticising Zidane for that action alone, remembering his own World Cup suspension, while Desailly still as florid around the language as usual before being cut off. Everyone agrees it's been a lovely atmosphere the teams couldn't match, Gary summing it up as "a night of drama and madness in Berlin" before the Goethe poetry over mightily dramatic Bach ends the whole shebang.

Four year's time, then?

Finals Fantasy end of tournament round-up thing - part 1

We're still here. Well, I'm still here; I'm guessing that those of Finals Fantasy who didn't decide that moving house on the weekend of the World Cup final was a good idea are beavering away on their reports as we speak. Meanwhile, this is the first of several/some/possibly just this one, then (delete as eventually applicable) post-tournament round-up bits which may be appearing as the week progresses. Sorry, everyone.)

What did you make of it, then?

It was great. Of course all World Cups are great, and anyone who claims to like football but says otherwise should be regarded with suspicion, but I've found this World Cup hugely enjoyable, with more interesting games and less complete clunkers than any of the 20 years worth of World Cups that I recall. The pre-season friendlies, which would usually have me all of a quiver at this time of year, look rather limp and uninteresting by comparison.

Best defensive player

Rafael Marquez invariably seemed to be not just playing in at least three positions at any one time but playing brilliantly in all of them. All right, so Cannavaro was robbed for player of the tournament, but there was something ever so slightly swashbuckling about Marquez, which is always quite impressive for a central defender.

Best attacking player

Daniele De Rossi, for by far the best headbutt of the tournament. None of this headlong charging into someone's chest because he was rude about your mum nonsense for Daniele, dear me no, just an entirely motiveless attack accompanied by a shrug of inncoence and a smirk as he wandered off the pitch. Marvelous. Or possibly Asamoah Gyan for confusingly wearing squad number 3 while playing up front, even if his shooting left something to be desired. The forwards were a bit of a let down, all told.

Biggest letdown

Well, the forwards, for a start. The lack of a multiball feature for anyone hitting the screen over the centre of the pitch in Frankfurt. That would have been excellent. The England midfield were rubbish as well, but goodness knows everyone has read about that enough elsewhere.

Item you'd track down for the National Football Museum

Graham Poll's yellow card.

Best pundit

Hansen's explanation of how to defend corners after the England-Sweden highlights was a splendid example of how punditry should work - taking something that seems relatively straightforward and explaining its complexities in a way that didn't assume everybody watching was a total fatheaded idiot. However, as he didn't embark on a lengthy, not really worth the effort expanded upon it description of 70s cinema and William Goldman's Adventures In The Screen Trade at the end of the 3rd place play-off and as Martin O'Neil did, the best pundit is Martin O'Neil. Go on Martin, don't go back into management, just sit on the opposite sofa from Adrian Chiles once a week and talk about whatever you like.

Best commentator

Steve Wilson, for managing to sound wide-eyedly enthusiastic about whichever game he might be about to cover, highlights of Iran v Angola included, and even though he did come over slightly like that bloke commentating on the Hindenberg exploding during the Germany-Argentina fisticuffs (following Mick McCarthy's superb "he's nailed him! He's karate-kicked the 17 in the groin!" with a plaintive "this is awful! this is awful!" but fortunately stopping short of "oh the humanity!" and then throwing up. Unless they cut that bit out).

Worst pundit

Where to start? None of the new additions for either channel were much use, although at least ITV sent most of theirs home by the end of the group stages, and I rather enjoyed Marcel Desailly's bouts of grumpiness when things weren't going France/Ghana/whoever he was supporting's way. Ian Wright's man-in-the-street-England-fan routine is really beginning to grate now. I suspect that not even Andy Townsend understands why Andy Townsend is employed to comment knowledgably about football. In the end, for sheer persistence and the amount of faith placed in him for no earthly reason, and despite O'Neil's best efforts to get some sort of double act going, it has to be the man who can say nothing of interest in five different languages, Leonardo.

Worst commentator

I've long suspected that if you strip away the need to bang on relentlessly about England or Manchester United or to try to reduce everything to some aspect of domestic football that only an idiot would be interested in, deep down, underneath it all, Clive Tyldesley is actually quite a good commentator. This was the tournament that finally convinced me that I was wrong. Clive annoyed me even more than Jonathan Pearce's over-exagerated attempts at pronunciation which, particularly when it came to Italy and France, sounded less like an authentic accent and more like 'Allo 'Allo. And I don't really want to be reminded of 'Allo 'Allo at any stage, thanks.

Main lesson learned about the game over the last month

Trying to write a report on an England penalty defeat while slightly drunk and rather fed up isn't the ideal way to spend a Saturday night. Not strictly relevant to football as a whole, perhaps, but I offer it up as a friendly warning.

It's been fun, this, hasn't it?

I'll never think of Iain Dowie, Mark Lawrenson, Radovan Karadic, Kasey Keller, Fabian Barthez, van insurance or onanism in quite the same way again, that's for certain.

Anyone who saw 8 Out Of 10 Cats last night...

...might have been wondering about this.

Adwatch

Samsung LCD HDTV

Oh yes. I couldn't possibly let the Adwatch series end without mentioning this gem.

I've still not quite managed to transcribe it all, but (paraphrased slightly perhaps) it begins: "Imagine you've scored tickets to the world football finals. Your friends wonder who you'll take. Even your boss is looking for an invite. But then you see his Samsung LCD HDTV. It's stunning. The design is brilliant...".

Of course, the upshot of it all is that "you" give away your tickets and instead invest in one of the aforementioned TVs on which "you" and "your friends" can watch the "world football finals". For this, "you" are hailed as a "genius".

There are so many things wrong with this advert, not least the fact that were you or I to do this we wouldn't be hailed as a "genius" so much as beaten to death with our own shoes. The use of the word "genius" and the unique selling points of the TV - "It's stunning. The design is brilliant" - make the script read as though it's dripping with sarcasm. But, somewhat incredibly, it's not.

So, how's about I out the dynamic creative geniuses behind the advert? Take a bow Leo Burnett, one of the largest worldwide agencies, who proudly proclaim themselves to be "ideas-centric". (Incidentally, they're also responsible for / guilty of the "I'm lovin' it" ads for McDonalds.) I'm guessing the office in the Samsung ad is based on their own - populated by impossibly young, savvy, dashing and expensively dressed "creatives" with a money-to-sense ratio of 50:1 who've never been to a football game in their lives and if they did would complain about the quality of the prawn sandwiches. Funny how Samsung sponsor Chelsea, isn't it?

Quote of the day

"I fucked you! I fucked you!"

What French coach Raymond Domenech - he of the "impressive earhole plumage" - apparently jigged about shouting following his side's victory over Portugal on Wednesday night. As a result, he's been reported to FIFA. What's the world coming to? After the Portuguese antics in that game, and the sour taste Ronaldo's behaviour left in English mouths following the quarter-final, the man should be knighted.

France v Portugal, TalkSport

“Coming up next, Portugal v France on your official World Cup station.” Ah, commercial radio and your never-ending quest for officialdom, how I’ve missed you. My dad’s always been a bit surprised that I don’t listen to TalkSport (or talkSPORT, as the scrolling message thing on the DAB tells me, or Talksport, as we’re going to refer to it for the rest of the report, cheers), but I’ve always been rather suspicious of it. I think it’s wariness brought on by listening to other people’s idiot wrong opinions on 6-0-6 in any of its post-Baker eras that put me off the notion of sport-related radio for life. (The Talksport schedule currently features former BBC London right reactionary old scumbag Jon Gaunt; I dread to think what his opinions on sport might be, and I have no desire to find out.)

Our commentary team are Jim Proudfoot and Alvin Martin. Jim does a decent enough job, a spell watching the match while listening to his commentary suggesting that he keeps up with play pretty well, and doesn’t overburden the listener with his opinions (unlike, say, Green) or a lot of useless drivel delivered at high speed making the game impossible to follow (a fear that anyone who ever heard Jonathan Pearce in his Capital Gold days will carry with them forever). He’s not so good when it comes to sketching in local colour, though, and when he does it leaves something to be desired – I’m somewhat coloublind, and even I can spot that while Ricardo’s shirt is similar in design to that of Wycombe Wanderers, it’s far too turquoise-y for anyone to mistake the two. Alvin, meanwhile, starts the game by getting very excited about Portugal’s defensive record, as you might expect.

Truth be told there’s not an awful lot to report in the early stages of the match, or at least not until a certain winger gets the ball. "The boos will tell you who's on the ball, the French have been watching our game" says Jim, not really thinking it through. Later, after proving that it's not just ITV commentators who marvel at English flags at non-England games, Jim devises a different theory: "I wonder if it's the French or it's Englishmen who are catcalling Ronaldo?" Who indeed.

Ten minutes in, and the reason why the oft-mentioned uninterrupted commentary is available becomes apparent. “You’re listening to the World Cup on Talksport, in association with Budget Van Insurance”, announces Jim, before telling us at some length about the great deals we can get at Budget Van Insurance, and even finding time for the phone number. This is the first of several sponsor messages to pop up during the match, but for incongruity the only one to come close is for Sure, “sports protection which lets you go wild at make or break decisions”. Is going wild at make or break decisions really that advisable? And will Sure be on hand to pick up the pieces if it all ends in tears?

With the game failing to compel our commentators an alternative theme for the evening soon unravels itself, albeit in a manner that Jim hadn’t quite expected, as Ribery takes a tumble: "it's not nice to report the first piece of gamesmanship, but it's come from France rather than Portugal". Yes, because no other team in the history of football has ever attempted to cheat in any way, that's it. Fortunately, Portugal soon revert to type and Jim can start getting really upset. “It’s the most lamentable part of our game” he complains as Carvalho waves an imaginary card. (To be fair, Jim probably won’t have seen the ITV break bumpers so it’s understandable that he might make this error.) When the penalty is awarded Alvin suggests that Henry has made the most of Carvalho’s challenge, but “if you live by the sword you die by the sword”. This doesn’t make an awful lot of sense, but then “if you get booted in the testicles and then foul someone in the penalty area in the next match, you give away a penalty”, while accurate, isn’t nearly so catchy. Alvin claims that you can hear the sound of Ricardo getting his hand to the resulting penalty from the commentary box, which seems somehow unlikely.

Half time: Rodney Marsh is on hand to let us know that he “thought an Italy-France final was destiny, but you don’t play football with a ouija board”. There are a million jokes about Glenn Hoddle to be made at this point, but try as I might I can’t think of any of them.

Adverts: “Hi, I’m Tony Cottee”. Tony’s here to tell us how to watch those all-important knock-out stages without missing work. “Access your PC from anywhere” says Tony. Of all the West Ham team of the late 80s, Tony really isn’t the one you would have expected to turn to a career in IT.

Back to Jim and Alvin for the second half. Jim asks Alvin to compare France’s performance to England’s a few days previously. “Not much in it” suggests Alvin. I’ve only seen a few minutes of the match, but from Jim’s astute commentary alone I can tell that this is horseshit. The absence of any football-related excitement means that Jim can really hit his chosen theme for the evening hard; “increasingly one-way traffic in the gamesmanship and cheating in this game” he says in the sort of tone more commonly reserved for announcing the death of the Pope. Alvin is convinced that there’s going to be a twist in the game at any moment, even after Scolari repeats his excellently ineffective Simao-for-Pauleta substitution from Saturday: “it’s a big decision, but he usually gets them right”. Yeah, that holding on for a draw against a poor team with 10 men was inspiring stuff.

Then - finally! at last! - excitement, as Barthez makes a fluff and Figo heads narrowly over with the goal gaping. Alvin describes this as “one of the worst displays of goalkeeping I’ve ever seen in my life”, and he played in front of Alan McKnight and therefore knows about that sort of thing. Jim refers to Barthez as “the balding 36 year old”. Balding? Jim gets to raise his voice again as Ricardo charges forward for a corner, but nothing much results and the highlight of the closing stages is Alvin chuckling at Figo apparently nearly losing his shorts. Perhaps fortunately, the circumstances are never expanded upon.

Jim greets the final whistle with a jolly “Vive la France!” Rodney’s on hand to dish out the Carlsberg man of the match award to Thuram, and the Budget Van Insurance save of the match to Ricardo; it’s not made clear what benefits this bestows on the players in question, although it would be nice to think that the next time Ricardo needs a van that he’ll be able to get it insured at a decent rate. Does Rodney think the final will be a classic? “Yes, I do.” Phew, that was close.

What we’ve learned: Portugal - they bad men; if you’re likely to find yourself in a make or break situation, probably best to not base any decision you might make on your deodorant; Rodney Marsh’s instincts are much better than Ian Wright’s.

What we’re still unsure of: Is it cheap insurance for vans, or insurance for budget vans only?

France v Portugal, BBC1

I once almost got my head kicked in for wanting France to win a game. Well, actually I once almost got my head kicked in for saying I didn’t mind who won in a game involving France. My fault really for deciding to watch the ’98 semi-final in one of Leigh Park’s less salubrious drinking houses. Leigh Park, for those of you not in the know, is Havant’s Beeston, its Huyton, its Moss Side. Being the South Coast, we have the country of France a little bit closer than most and, ergo, the casual dislike we Brits are supposed to have is magnified more than a little. You know the types, “Them French. Not comin’ over ‘ere, not stealin’ ‘ar wimmin, but they’re, err, nearby. Those c****.”

Overhearing me suggesting that I didn’t really mind who won their game with Croatia, one chap took issue with the notion that I was 50% receptive to a French victory. “But you’re English, you’ve got to hate the French” and a long discussion ensued where filled with the bravado that only a couple of Kronenberg’s can bring, I took issue with his hypothesis, and suggested that I was just eager to see a good game. It descended, during which time I was accused of “not knowing anything about football.” I naturally responded that his argument had nothing to do with knowing about football and was merely xenophobic. Sadly, this was a word with which he wasn’t familiar, which did nothing to assuage his rising ire and therefore my associates decided we had best leave, fearing that I might be exiting soon via the window anyhow.

In the run up to this game, I thought about my eight-years estranged friend from The Curlew. Today must be a real problem for him. He can’t support France, as we’ve discovered, but the only alternative is to root for Portugal, the team of that nasty Christiano Ronaldo. Boooo, and so on. Y’know, it really puts football in perspective at times like this, knowing that there is a young man on the South Coast whose head has not long burst. With that in mind, I’ll come out and say it. I’d like France to win this game. Not for vengeance reasons, merely because they looked so good against Brazil. If you want, we can do this outside…

It looks like I’ll have a few others on my side though as the BBC runs its flag up the French mast within seconds. “Who will join Italy in the final, those loveable Portuguese or a born again France” says Gary, not long after hammering home his allegiance once more, “as always on the BBC we’re completely impartial, so ‘allez les Blues’” he crows, the temporary Tricolor tattoo on his nape just out of shot. “Bono, sorry, Alan” is Gary’s expected, but happily brief reference to Shearer’s appearances across the web today, courtesy of his daughter’s ‘Sing-Along-A-U2’ documentary short, before the two Al’s dissect the two teams on show today. When asked to contribute, Martin O’Neill appears to sweat, saying “Well you’ve covered just about everything. Portugal. France. Is anyone else playing?” like the two kids who’ve copied his homework have been cute enough to put their hands up first.

In the stadium, Adrian Chiles is with Marcel Desailly and Leonardo. It is a ramshackle gathering that, on the three occasions we join them, never looks quite prepared for it, wandering about like they’re trying to assemble themselves into the correct queue at a foreign bus station. Adrian is there holding his ear-piece like he’s just been entertaining his colleagues with his impersonation of David Coleman’s Spitting Image puppet. Leonardo meanwhile appears to be lost in the music being pumped out by the stadium PA. Celina Hinchcliffe’s report on Portugal airs Ronaldo’s defence as well as Ricardo talking about his penalty saves with about as much false modesty as Simon Jordan on catching his reflection in a wing-mirror. Back in the studio the talk is of Deco, Martin appearing to break into a Noel Fielding stand-up deviation, suggesting that “I’m not sure he gets up quick enough after being hit by an invisible spider.” Imagine that.

We hear from the French press conference, Raymond Domenech sporting some impressive earhole plumage. After this Alan Hansen then picks up Terry Venables baton from the quarterfinal in waxing dribbly about Zinedine Zidane, while Shearer rubs his hands when asked if France will win. “I hope they do” he smiles likes he’s peering down a camera phone. Into the stadium and Motty is keen to talk about the Portuguese discipline, “and not just cos of the England game” he protests like a child with an aniseed ball melting in his fib-sweat drenched palm, on interrogation by an angry newsagent. As we move along the teams during the anthems, Zidane’s eyes flick like he can’t precisely remember if he locked his front door or not, while Motty notes the squad players who’ve not yet had their chance, like Pascal Chimbonda of Wigan. “He’ll be able to swap notes with Theo Walcott” is Lawro’s warm-up gag.

Each time Christiano Ronaldo gets the ball, boos ring out “that’s not just England supporters by the way” says Motty keen to stress the pantomime villain role Ronaldo will be playing, as a “’Rrrraaaaay” guffaws out as the ball is snatched away from him. “That’s something he’s rightly going to have to live with” says Lawro, closet vigilante. Ronaldo however seems to be gaining strength from the barracking, laying a cheeky backheel for Maniche to send a first team shot a mere foot over the bar.

It is clear that Portugal are keen to work the officials once again, going down with the fluidity and regularity of lubed-up Gentoo penguins. They show Domenech on the side-line suggesting a Ronaldo dive in possibly the most mincing gesture of this or any World Cup. In the 32nd minute, Henry follows the oppositions lead by making his drop look stylish, the difference being that Thierry actually appears to have been fouled. Zidane kick swerves into the side of the net just away from Ricardo’s reach.

“Abel Xavier lookalike there” says Motty as the camera spots, err, Abel Xavier in the crowd. Lawro quickly corrects him, “still looks like King Neptune doesn’t he” he says, keen to show off his love of Gods and folklore. Indeed, not long after he suggests “it’s like the boy who cried wolf” when Ronaldo is denied a penalty. The Portuguese bench goes mad, but replays show that the nation’s favourite appears to be trying to get the attention of WWE executives with a top-rope moonsault.

At half time the pundits are moody, suggesting the group stages were better than the knockouts have been, seeming to ignore last night’s semi-final which, in fairness, was a lot better than this. Discussing Ronaldo’s penalty appeal, Alan Shearer suggests that as part of his dive there was “even a little bit of head action” which I really hope was a sly reference to this currently popular item.

Moving on Gary suggests, bearing his teeth a little, “England are out of the World Cup. Not perhaps because of two lads from Portugal and Liverpool, but perhaps because of a middle-aged man from Sweden. 5 years he had” which leads into a savage package that sticks the boot into Sven the only way the BBC know how, via the medium of musical montage. Broadcast’s ‘Come On, Lets Go’ plays over shots, good and bad, from games, as well as film of Faria, Ulrika, the fake Sheikh and such. “What’s the point in wasting time on people that you’ll never know” is the lyric as they whip through shots of James Beattie, Michael Ricketts and the myriad forgotten men. Bitter stuff but Martin’s able to lighten the tension, “Ian Wright must have been in the editing room for the last 3 weeks” he says before attempting a fair appraisal of Sven’s achievements and his relationship with the media. Gary’s having none of it though “do you think people care about that, or do people care about performances” etc etc, leaping off the fence and showing a darkness that has me questioning my whole belief system, I can tell you. Remember Superman III? The real Gary, one assumes, is currently trying to avoid being turned into a cube by a Berlin car crusher. Hopefully he’ll regain his nice-guy strength, break out and deal with this shadowy imposter before the end of the show.

Back with the boys inside the stadium, Leonardo is adjusting his trousers, possibly in the hope of more dancing later. “So, well, no-one got anything else to say” says Evil Gary testily, as he struggles to fill the last few seconds before we go back to the commentary box. “There’s a chap just stood up in front of me, I’m about to have a row with him” says Mark, deciding against further grumpy revelations such as the poor quality of his half-time scotch-egg and how the seats in Japan were much more comfy.

After another easy Portuguese fall, we see Domenech now playing charades on the touchline. Then we see him trying to attract attention, sticking two pointed fingers in each side of the mouth to whistle like a sexually frustrated site labourer. Over the way, Scolari is seen urging his players up the field, motioning in the fashion of a meths-addled tramp offering unsolicited advice to a reversing bus-driver. The match continues in fairly uninspiring fashion until the 77th minute, when that man Ronaldo fires a free-kick from 30 yards over the wall. Barthez deals with it in his usual way, like he’s an eager but nervous trainee vet, the ball being a well-organised chicken trying to take advantage of the newbie’s first visit to escape the coop. To his and France’s relief, the follow-up header drops onto the roof of the net.

When Ricardo Carvalho gets a yellow card, meaning he would miss the final if they got there, John says “don’t wish to be spiteful, but he was the player involved in the Wayne Rooney incident,” struggling to contain the glee of retribution. He’s right though, it was harsh of Carvalho to thrust his cock and balls violently into Wayne’s studs like that. In extra time Ricardo joins the attack, and despite an over-head hooked pass which wins a corner it isn’t enough, Barthez doing his wobbly unicycle effort with aplomb. “Let me repeat” says John, suppressing a big laugh, “Ronaldo and Portugal will not be in the final”, the German director obliging the English viewing public by showing Christiano on the verge of tears

“Big Phil is in a big strop” says Gary as we see the Felipe stomping all over the pitch and haranguing the referee. “A good team, a decent team” adds Alan Shearer, pointedly, about France. Once again, the boys in the stadium are unprepared as Marcel appears to pass a watch to a flustered Adrian Chiles, suggesting either his close-up magic prowess is coming on leaps and bounds, or the BBC betting circle has gotten out of hand and left him a little light. He seems happy though, “now for sure they will win it” he beams, preparing to hand back Leonardo’s wallet.

Referee (Jorge Lariondda, Uruguay): Possibly the first referee this tournament to be criticised for not booking enough players. Alan Shearer suggests a red card for one of the Portuguese divers would “soon put a stop to it.” His case for tarring, feathering and the arming of 5th officials with snipers will be provided to FIFA in a dossier after the tournament.

Pee Wee’s Playhouse secret word: gamesmanship, or possibly “BOOOOOOOOOO”

These things I believe: I’d like to think the owner of the Scottish Saltire that was on display in the ground, stood up amongst the England fans and applauded every time Ronaldo got the ball. -- Scolari appears to have Tom Selleck amongst his backroom staff -- Is Scolari’s polo getting washed at the wrong temperature before each game or is it just that the external and internal heat is making him expand during them. -- Remember when Sven was England manager?

Germany v Italy, ITV1

This would have been up much earlier but for the electricity having almost literally having just come back on having gone off early this morning around here. The bullet point version of the report seemed to work last time, so:

- "Destination Dortmund!" They haven't cut into the opening titles before with a Champions League-style build-up insert, have they? Steve Rider's obsession, if we can label it as such, is how the Germans somehow deserve this - "they've got the organisation right, they've got the atmosphere, and now for these fans the ultimate dream - can they get the football right?" At this "stronghold" Steve Rider sounds like he's in a small reflective box as he talks up the new favourite catch-all, "atmosphere". "This is serious home advantage" Steve puts it to Terry Venables, who gives the assertion that this is where they should be playing the game before a "major, monster final". Andy Townsend restricts himself to likening the stadium to Anfield.

- Ned reports on Jurgen, speaking to start as if in a museum. Tel reckons "he looks like he should still be playing".

- "German football describes this stadium as the living room, it's so comfortable." What? Gabriel sonorously tells of Italian connections to 1982, mostly just as a way to run through the current scandals together.

- "Anyone who scores early is going to have a huge boost" Venables states, ominously. Rider's still going on about the closeness of the stadium "Everyone for Germany?" Steve checks, as he appears to be rousing the German team for them. He then suggests we "enjoy it with David Pleat and Clive Tyldesley". That'll require some work on our part.

- Apparently everyone's singing "fussball's coming home" as "German soil (is) shaking with anticipation". What does all this mean? And while we're about it, has every part started with a reference to being in Dortmund? Are we meant to be impressed by this alone?

- Clive only thinks to put personal Germany/Italy animosities into it as the game starts, while Pleat calls Jurgen "a bright man, a lovely, easy man" who "made the ground rules early and stuck to his guns". Yes.

- Oddly, Clive chooses to publicly doubt Cannavaro's stated height. It's lively stuff, Pleat seeing it as a "lovely ebb and flow". They're particularly pleased by Lukas Podolski, Clive marvelling "it's almost as if he's been given a script of the match", whatever that means. David points out he's recovered well having been "booed off a little bit" in an earlier game. How could he tell it had only been a little booing? "There weren't too many flags being flown from German white vans when we arrived" Clive puts it.

- "Some whistles here, not sure if the Germans should have given that back" Good you're on top of things, Clive. Germany are posing most of the threat, Schneider missing the best chance despite Pleat wondering, curiously, "is he really sure he could have hit that rigging?" "They manage well enough from the penalty spot, though" Clive facetiously responds. Then David really lands himself in it, declaring of Germany's strikeforce "nice to see two strikers playing with each other" before praising "improvisation" to win crucial free kicks. No, not in that sense.

- Inevitably, Clive is determined to put Ashton under Lyme's Simone Perotta into context, ending up remarking "Geoff Hurst is from there as well, you know?" and naming his former school. Something odd seems to have come over the pair of them, in fact, as when Michael Ballack goes down easily he chances "he'll have to get that out of his system - they don't dive at Chelsea, do they?"

- "Nothing to choose between two teams who have gone for it from the outset" is Tyldesley's first half verdict. Steve, the network man, follows a trailer for some boxing by declaring "this would be even on most judges' cards" as Andy references "playing with each other" and worryingly adds "once you put Totti in there..." We get some shots of the famous fan parks, Steve calling them "a night at the movies, but who will be happiest when the credits roll?" Er...

- Clive's off again on the old favourite, speculating "It's a wonder Germany don't play all of their games here in Dortmund". There's a distinct quietness to how he starts this half, especially when he gets to loose speculation about Buffon possibly going to Arsenal, summed up as "mind games". Pleat is meanwhile praising Camaronesi and how "whenever a ball is played to this willing runner he applauds it". Er, yes.

- Grosso goes down after heftily catching himself on Klose's knee and is shown waggling his head about in pain. Clive reacts with a "my brain hurts" in a dumb voice. We never want to hear that again.

- "Perhaps the referee should stop the game for a minute and allow them a drinks break, they deserve it" is Pleat's charitable view, while Clive refers to "our blinkered views of other nations" in praising the Mexican ref.

- "They've crept a yard forward, the Germans complai..." "BALLACK!" It went over.

- Lehmann accidentally flatters Perrotta, and Clive notes with restrained glee that "they thought Lehmann was going to do a Schumacher".


- "One for the purists - one to keep and savour" Pleat reckons, while Clive responds to a touchline tussle for the ball "used to play a game like that at school, called it crab football. I was pretty good at it."

- The studio team get less than thirty seconds, although Terry does just about get to point out "Ballack coming deeper and deeper and deeper".

- Gilardino "hit the post!", as declared by Clive at top volume. He "couldn't provide that cute finish", apparently. Then Zambrotta hits bar, Tyldesley bemoaning that "the only luck they've had has been bad luck", using historical context just in case we're not convinced.

- "He'll have to get used to that, Ballack. Wait until he meets Robbie Savage."

- "Great reaction from Andy and Terry" Steve pointlessly tells us off camera as everyone swaps ends, Clive adding "there is a hero and there is a villain out there, we just don't know who they are."

- "Alessandro del Piero, there's no flag, Alessandro del Piero, saved by Lehmann!" Clive seems to say this in a very odd manner, as if struggling to keep up. Which is fair enough, as there's "almost two games going on here, one at one end of the field, another at the other."

- "Trying to dance his way into some space... IT'S IN! It's Grosso! It's Italy! The most wonderful football match has got the most wonderful finale - a goal from a full-back, that tells you everything!" No it doesn't, but there's more to come yet. "He's played in del Piero...fantastic! And whatever happens in the World Cup final, we will be talking about this game for years." The director cuts straight away to a German fan with head in hands.

- "The final whistle has gone, would you believe...this is where the German dream ends, it might well be the start for Italy. Magnifico!" Tel and Andy are in similar raptures amid best game so far hallelujahs. "We were all talking about it, we thought it'd be a long night" Andy accurately surmises, up to a point.