FIFA Final and Other News

FIFA Final

"Will Zinedine Zidane cap off an illustrious career with the World Cup? Or will Italy ruin his fairy tale? We'll find out Sunday." - ESPN.

Well, it's all down to this. France vs. Italy at 1:30 P.M. (EST) today. Germany won third place yesterday after defeating Portugal 3-1. At this point, I would like to note that the German goalie Kahn plays about as much defensively as offensively. He is definitely great and not afraid to come out and pick up the ball if he needs to. I was 50% right in both, my quarterfinal and semifinal predictions, although I did not expect either of these teams to make it this far! Due to lack of time, I will get right down to my World Cup Final prediction:


That's right! I predict the French are going to win it all this year...and so does an ESPN expert. However, the main poll on ESPN's website reveals a different picture. According to the poll, 65% believe Italy will win while only 35% voted for France. Why did I choose France? Because of Zinedine Zidane for one. He is retiring after this world cup. He will be motivated. He is clutch. If not directly him, his teammates will also have an extra motivation through his retirement story. On the other hand, does anyone really need ANY motivation at such a juncture? The ESPN expert also exclaims that the Italian goalie might be the best in the world, and at worst in the top three. What does this mean? It means France's offense MUST come through and attack for my prediction to come true.

In other world cup news, I started wondering about some FIFA World Cup records- like the highest scoring match, the largest victory of margin, etc. Hence, I discovered a cool website about the History of the World Cup. It has some pretty cool records. For example:

• In the 1954 World Cup Austria beat Switzerland 7-5 for the most goals (12) combined in a World Cup match.
• Hungary beat El Salvador in 1982, 10-1 for the highest goal differential in a World Cup match (Hungary is also the only team to score 10 or more goals in a World Cup).
• Hakan Sukur of Turkey scored the fastest goal in World Cup history in 2002 when he scored 11 seconds into the match against South Korea.
• Pelé of Brazil was also the youngest player to score in a World Cup (1958) match.

Other News:

NBA: Lebron to sign extension worth up to $80M
Wimbledon Final: Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer (9 A.M. - EST)
Bill Simmons: NBA trade value index (Top 40). Guess who's #1? Dwyaaane Waaade.
Miami Heat: Heat may be frugal.