Italy 1-2 France

July 2, 2000
Onefootball.com

Dino Zoff's side were seconds away from the title when, leading through Marco Delvecchio's sweet volley, Sylvain Wiltord's angled drive found the corner of the net deep into injury time. It was tough on the Italians after their Catenaccio defensive style had the better of the French attacking flair until the 93rd minute when Wiltord struck.

But France went a long way in adding to the myth that this team are invincible. After struggling to break down the likes of Nesta and Cannavaro, coach Roger Lemerre brought on Wiltord and Trezeguet, both of whom ended up scoring, and Pires, who ended up providing the winner.

They are, without doubt, better than the World Cup winning team of two years ago. As well as a solid defence, a midfield boasting industry and sublime skill, France now have a lethal attack. Craft and guile go a long way but if you add luck to that, which France certainly had in Rotterdam, then you have a complete team.

It was a fitting final to round off what had been a splendid tournament. On what was a beautiful playing suface in the De Kuip stadium, both sides played quick, intelligent passes and looked to go forward whenever they won possession. The organised, ruthless defending may have been dominant, but there was still plenty of attacking endeavour on offer.

Both managers made changes to their line-ups. Emmanuel Petit failed to recover from a fever so Christophe Dugarry stepped in. Kaiserslautern's Youri Djorkaeff, who had scored against the Czech Republic and Spain in this tournament, was also included in the starting line-up with Nicolas Anelka having to make do with a place on the bench.

Italy coach Dino Zoff, a former Lazio boss, put his faith in Roma duo Francesco Totti and Marco Delvecchio with Juventus pair Alessandro Del Piero and Filippo Inzaghi dropped to the substitutes bench. Gianluca Pessotto replaced the suspended Zambrotta.

Italy forced two early corners with Francesco Totti missing a free header from the second, while Thierry Henry broke free down the left for France and cut inside but his cross failed to find a team-mate.

The same player then hit the outside of the post with a quick shot which caught out Toldo.

After seven minutes the Italians, who were tipped to spoil this final with ruthless defending, sent Fiore free down the right and the Udinese man's cross found the outstretched leg of Delvecchio, who couldn't control his effort.

Demetrio Albertini drove a free-kick just over the bar, with Barthez furious with his wall, as the Italians were doing a much better job of linking midfield to attack than they did in their semi-final win over Holland.

The French hit back on 20 minutes when Deschamps, following a patient move between several of his team-mates, fired in a right foot shot narrowly over the bar.

Dugarry then gave himself half a yard on the edge of the box but his right-footed curling effort was blocked by Cannavaro as Italian players flooded the area. The Catenaccio style was starting to take effect.

Seven minutes before the interval the ball found its way to Djorkaeff with his back to goal, but the midfielder panicked and never got hold of his snap-shot which Toldo safely gathered.

Shortly afterwards Desailly seemed to elbow Cannavaro in the face in a packed penalty area as Zidane was preparing to take a free-kick, but the referee failed to spot the incident.

France started the second half at a frantic pace. Henry got to the by-line but Zidane couldn't convert his pull-back, but the Arsenal man was enjoying more freedom down the left as the French were pushing more men forward.

But they were leaving gaps at the back, and the classic Italian sucker punch came ten minutes after the break. Totti fed Pessotto down the right and the Juventus man's cross avoided the lunging Desailly and found Delvecchio who tucked it away neatly from close range. It was his first goal in international football and his timing, as well as Italy's in their progression through to this final, looked to be just about perfect.

After Delvecchio's strike substitute Del Piero missed a golden opportunity to finish it off when he was put clean through but he dragged his shot wide.

But France refused to slow the pace, gambling a lot more than they were in the first half by pushing yet more men forward. Wiltord, on for the injured Dugarry, got to the by-line but decided to shoot from the narrow angle rather than pull it back and Toldo managed to block.

The Fiorentina keeper was starting to put himself in the right place at the right time as the desperate French were feeling the strain as they tried to break down one of the most efficient defences in the game.

Henry and Wiltord each got to the by-line yet again but neither of them could pull it back far enough and Toldo intercepted both attempts.

Del Piero had a second chance to kill the game off five minutes from time when Ambrosini played him clean through but the striker's shot was blocked by Barthez, who did a terrific job in spreading himself in front of goal.

Late on the Italians, as they had done throughout the tournament, packed the defence and made it difficult for the French to get behind them. Despite making three substitutions, Roger Lemerre could not find a way of stretching that rigid back line.

But just when it looked like there would be no way through this solid defence, Wiltord suddenly found himself in space in the area following a poor header from Blanc and scored with a sweet angled drive with just seconds left on the clock.

The Italians were on the floor exhausted at the final whistle. It would have taken some team talk to convince them that their name was on the trophy.

In extra time Toldo saved bravely from Pires while Del Piero's attempted chip comfortably cleared the crossbar.

Zidane could sense the golden goal when his free-kick cleared the wall but unfortunately for him the ball sailed over the top.

But although Zidane had led his team this far, France needed fresh legs to finish the job off and Trezeguet provided the classic strike which left Italy to relect on Del Piero's two misses and what might have been.

France: Barthez; Thuram, Blanc, Desailly, Lizarazu (Pires, 86) Djorkaeff (Trezeguet, 75), Vieira, Deschamps, Zidane; Dugarry (Wiltord, 57), Henry.

Italy: Toldo; Cannavaro, Nesta, Iuliano, Maldini; Pessotto, Di Biagio (Ambrosini, 65), Albertini, Fiore (Del Piero, 53), Delvecchio (Montella, 86), Totti.

Referee: Anders Frisk (Sweden)

Yellow cards: Di Biagio 30, Cannavaro 42, Totti 91 (Italy) Thuram 57 (France).
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