Through 6 matches of the World Cup finals, neither France nor Italy have lost a match, with the Italians drawing once against the US and the French drawing Switzerland and South Korea. One could argue that Italy have had the slightly more difficult road to the Finals, but French defeats of Brazil and Spain have certainly impressed.

The Italians have not conceded a goal after the 30th minute and that was an own-goal! The fact that their already stifling defense actually gets stronger as the match goes on will strike fear in French hearts. But France have scored 7 of their 8 goals after the 30th minute, which may mean the slow starters have been able to adjust to their opponents.

Italy scores 7 of their 11 goals from outside the penalty area, but France have yet to concede from outside the box. Claude Makelele and Patrick Viera in support of the French back four have been outstanding during the Finals, and if Viera is on-form, they will be a good test for the Azzuri.

Curiously, Italian keeper Gianluigi Buffon is amongst the leaders in saves made during the World Cup. Whether this is up to his skill or a sign of holes in the Italian defense is up for discussion.

Despite his up and down form, Italy’s Francisco Totti leads all players in assists and credit must be given to the Italians attacking nature, the lack of which has been so derided in the past. But France’s Thierry Henry has the most shots on goal during the tournament despite being starved of service early on.

What do these numbers mean? A tight match with few opportunities because of stifling defenses or a wide-open Final with loads of chances, ending with a late winner? Hope for the latter.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 7th, 2006 at 3:39 pm and is filed under World Cup 2006. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.