What an absurd discussion here.
I have been absent from the forum for a very long time for the simple reason I have nothing musical to contribute........alas.
One of my very best friends is Italian and we watched the final at his place. (here in Holland).
First of all I think that there was not ONE team that really shone throughout the Championship, worse even I think not ONE team truly deserved the cup. And to pre-empt your criticism, even though I would have liked Holland to win I had been saying for months that Holland did not even deserve to go to Germany and that they had no true business being there, simply because our team sucked.
But Italy, and once more (Dreamer and all the others) I congratulate you on winning ,but it is absolutely ludicrous to maintain that they were the best team and that deserved the title. They were by far the luckiest team though.............
As for Zidane, a great great player who made a terrible mistake. I am glad he was awarded
best player of the tournament all the same...

Greetings from Holland,
with a national team that once was the pride of a nation, these days only our trainers seem to be "cream of the crop"..............