So Berlin it is for the Italians.

Who would have thought? Well me, but not many others.

Italian football is going through inquests, trials and tribulations, but on the pitch it remains a standard, a standard of defensive excellence, flair and guts.

For those who accuse Italian football of being strictly defensive here is an emphatic riposte: Fabio Grosso.

The full-back never quits attacking. Who was there to win the penalty against Australia deep into injury time? Grosso.

Who was it who curled in an exquisite shot past German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann in extra-time? Grosso, a defender.

Italy coach Marcello Lippi must have finally pacified his staunchest critic by fielding four forwards in extra-time against Germany. If that is not daring and attacking, I don’t know what is.

Italy, who were full value for their win against Germany, will now take on France, who, like Italy, have gone from strength to strength.

The French have been a bugbear for the Italian team as they defeated the Azzurri in the 1998 World Cup quarter-finals and the Euro2000 Final. Will Italy be able to change that? Time will tell. They certainly have the togetherness and mental strength to do so.

The Final in Berlin will also mark some important milestones for both the Italians and the French. Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro will win his 100th cap for Italy while the game will also be Zinedine Zidane’s farewell. Playmaker Francesco Totti has already said he is 90% sure that the Final will be his last game for Italy while we may never see the likes of Alessandro Del Piero again at another World Cup.

The ingredients are there for a classic Final and no one can say that these two teams have not deserved their place.
But Italy’s run to the Final has been a much more romantic one, notwithstanding the fact that France’s old hands have propelled the team forward. The Italians have gotten here against all the odds.

Written off countless number of times before the tournament and even once they got to the semi-finals, Italy have proven their mettle. Their resolve under Lippi is made of stern stuff and the team never gives up.

Italian football has been under bruising attacks by all and sundry - from an international press accustomed to pass snobby judgement to their own deeply critical domestic press.

The Serie A scandal is an inescapable reality that follows Lippi’s men into every press conference. That monkey just will not come off the back of Italian players. But they have politely — in the circumstances — answered questions that in no small way bring their professional integrity into question.

“Is everything fine in your country?” snapped defender Alessandro Nesta, only once breaking out of form.
When the journalists should have been asking about how the triumph in Dortmund against the host country felt, they did, but not without bringing up the inevitable Serie A scandal into the mix.

For this we have to hold journalists and writers culpable. What a sorry, pathetic and misanthropic bunch they can be sometimes. They had witnessed an epic semi-final clash between two traditional super-powers but they instead chose to bring up the more unsavoury side of Italian football, with a glee that chills.

Even if relegation calls for Juventus, Lazio, Fiorentina and Milan had been announced earlier on in the day, could the journalists not have given the players a break? Would the scripted, cliché responses by the players really enrich their stories? Was it worth it?
The ultimate riposte to the critics can only be delivered in Berlin. True, many want Zidane to retire on a high note after such a glorious career.

But it is also true that this generation of Italian players — Del Piero, Nesta, Cannavaro, Totti, et al. — deserve some glory on the international stage. Zidane has won both the World Cup and the European Championship. This crop of Italian players has won nothing at the international level.

Couple that hunger with the scandal, which is depressing for the players, and all the romantics should support Italy in Berlin.

They deserve it.

-Hasan Saiyid
For more insight, opinion and anything to do with Italy check out Hasan Saiyid’s Italia focus section on his site: http://www.totalsoccer.ca