The sky is Azzurri

Marco Materazzi, the Azzurri centre-back aptly adorns the World Cup after scoring a goal and having a bog hand in the Zinedine Zidane send-off in the final. PHOTO: STAR ARCHIVE

WORLD CUP 2006 PART II
English hopes were at their usual fever pitch ahead of the tournament but the build-up had been ruined by Wayne Rooney's broken foot and the saga that surrounded it. Sven-Goran Eriksson's laissez-faire attitude had seen him welcome wives and girlfriends to England's HQ in Baden-Baden, giving the world the now over-used acronym 'WAGs', a catch-all phrase for a set of cosseted hangers-on whose drunken antics and power-shopping took headlines away from the players, which, considering performances, may have been for the best. England stumbled past Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago before a 2-2 draw with Sweden saw Michael Owen lost to a cruciate ligament injury.
The Swedes provided second-round opponents for the hosts and fell prey to a quickfire Lukas Podolski double before Henrik Larsson's penalty miss closed off a Swedish way back into the game. A thriller in Leipzig saw a Maxi Rodriguez volley take Argentina past the Mexicans in extra-time. England joined them in the last eight via another unconvincing win, Ecuador the rather passive victims this time.
Portugal and Netherlands fought out an ill-tempered affair featuring no less than four sending-offs. In the final few minutes, dismissed Barcelona club-mates Deco and Giovanni van Bronckhorst sat arm-in-arm from the vantage point of a stadium step as a Maniche goal secured another meeting between Portugal and England.
Two favourites in Brazil and France began to look as if they were in gear. Ghana were dispatched with ease by Brazil and Ronaldo became the finals' all-time leading goalscorer, surpassing Gerd Muller, with Brazil's opener -- his 15th on the greatest of stages. Spain again flattered to deceive in taking the lead against the French before Franck Ribery, Patrick Vieira and Zinedine Zidane, who suddenly looked back to his untouchable best, all scored.
A burst of French form followed in the quarterfinals where Brazil's previously vaunted quartet of Kaka, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Adriano proved their lack of cohesion as an attacking unit as France dominated proceedings. Thierry Henry scored the sole goal from a Zidane assist to end the hopes of the holders, for whom Ronaldinho especially had disappointed.
France's next opponents would be the Portuguese, who won a dour encounter on penalties with the English that will be remembered for the actions of two Manchester United players. A still half-fit Rooney exploded, after being bereft of support in a lone attacking role, and targeted Ricardo Carvalho, the Chelsea player involved in the tackle that had broken his foot in the first place. When Cristiano Ronaldo urged the Argentine referee to send off his club-mate, there followed a flashpoint between the pair that dominated UK headlines for weeks, tabloid ire further augmented by a wink from Ronaldo towards the Portuguese bench. It didn't help that a grinning and clearly highly confident Ronaldo stepped up to convert the decisive spot-kick. England departed, unlamented by only their die-hards, with only Owen Hargreaves in any way enhancing his reputation. Eriksson was soon gone.
So too were Argentina, suffering another premature knockout-stage exit. They had led Germany in Berlin through a Roberto Ayala goal before coach Jose Pekerman committed the error of taking off playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme to rest him for the next round. Miroslav Klose equalised to push matters into extra-time and penalties, where the Germans inevitably won out, this time by virtue of some handy written notes on each penalty taker that goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was seen revising before each Argentina attempt.
TO BE CONTINUED