Agony for Italy as France win again (Allsport)

By Neal Collins

Poor old Italy. They had Euro 2000 won on Sunday night in Rotterdam with goalkeeper Francesco Toldo looking impervious after a delightful goal from Marco Delvecchio.

Blimey, even little Francesco Totti was outplaying the great Zinedane Zidane in the midfield. The cup was almost in Paulo Maldini's long suffering hands.

But then, three minutes into injury time, Sylvain Wiltord found a weakness in Toldo and levelled. And 13 minutes into extra time, Robert Pires created a superb goal for David Trezeguet to crash a golden goal into the roof of the Italian net.

Roger Lemerre will get a little credit for the comeback. The French coach brought on Wiltord, Pires and Trezeguet late in the game.

I will say this: had it ended 1-0 this final would have lacked the drama which has marked so much of Euro 2000, as it was we had a memorable final.

But you can't help feeling sorry for Dino Zoff's men.

Poor old Paolo Maldini may never get his hands on any international silverware and that Italian trophy cabinet remains bare since the Spanish World Cup in 1982.

France? They've got the 98 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship. That's just greedy!

Still, I thought they deserved it.

Italy just seem to have this way of stopping other sides from playing and, more pertinently, scoring. The French were as impotent as the Dutch in the semifinal for much of the night, though they didn't miss any penalties. All those great World Cup winners like ZZ, Didier Deschamps and Youri Djourkaeff, plus the talented Thierry Henry, but they never really threatened to level matters.

But though the Italians deserve credit for this ability to defend and spoil, I was glad to see the leveller go in.

And I hate to admit that when Marcel Desailles felled Fabio Cannavaro in the Italian box on the 42nd minute, I was thinking “more power to your elbow”.

Okay, it's wrong. Referee Anders Fisk missed it, otherwise the Chelsea man would have been off.

But after 40 minutes of Italian defending and two minutes of Italian breakaways, I was heartily sick of the Azzzzzzurri once more. Seconds before Cannavaro had been booked for callously hacking down Thierry Henry as he went for goal. In the 31st minute, Luigi Di Baggio had earned a caution for fouling the pacey Arsenal striker too.

It was all so typical of the way Dino Zoff, and many Italian managers before him, send their sides out.

Just as the did in the semi-final, Italy had chosen to do their worst rather than their best.

After a bright start, we were faced with another evening of watching France trying to break down a dour Italian Cattenacio.

And boy, did we pay for that, having to sit through that first half.

All we had to show for the first 45 minutes was a toe punt from Youri Djourkaeff, easily saved by the magnificent Francesco Toldo.

Oh, and a flukey Henry effort from wide which hit Toldo's near post.

The De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam, full of Dutchmen whistling the Italians who out-defended them in Amsterdam on Thursday, deserved better.

But perhaps we should have realised what the Italians were up to when the left Alessandro del Piero, their only really creative player, on the bench.

And the French weren't helped by the absence of Emmanuel Petit; the Arsenal man was forced out by a virus.

Before Italy took their grip on this tournament, we had seen loads of attacking football, plenty of entertainment. We had to wait a long time for that.

It begane to happen when Italy's first big chance came from the cultured left boot of Paulo Maldini, who so nearly found Marko Delvecchio's head in the box in the 53rd minute. It felt like we'd waited a life time for it.

Their second chance brought their goal. Gianluca Pessotto crossed from the right, Delvecchio – unmarked – finished from close range with 55 minutes on the clock.

Del Piero, on as a sub for Fiore, had a great chance to make it 2-0 when Totti broke and played him in down the left but he put his shot past the far post from 12 yards.

Then the game really began to get interesting. French sub Sylvain Wiltord broke and tried to score from a narrow angle with Djourkaeff unmarked in the middle.

With Zidane prompting ceaselessly, the French produced long periods of pressure, but Toldo always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, as he has for most of this tournament.

He only became first choice when Buffon injured his left hand in the last friendly before the tournament – a 2-1 defeat against Norway. That must seem like years ago now.

Mind you, the French did themselves no favours. When Lilian Thuram, Henry and Zidane produced telling crosses into the box, there was nobody there to provide the finish.

The closest thing we had to a second goal in the closing minutes was another easy chance for Del Piero, played in by Massimo Ambrosini, but his effort was blocked by the advancing Manchester United goalkeeper Fabien Barthez in the 84th minute.

Del Piero would come to regret those two misses.

With Italy apparently half way up the steps to claim the Championship three minutes in to injury time, Wiltord produced what so many had been hoping for, a dramatic equaliser which keeps up the dramatic tradition of this tournament.

Barthez sent a despairing clearance into orbit, sub David Trezeguet rose high to flick on and Wiltord broke down the left to strike a low drive under the left hand of the otherwise excellent Toldo. The final whistle was barely 30 seconds away.

Golden goal time again.

By then, France had the psychological advantage – and too many strikers on the field! Henry had been joined by subs Trezeguet and Wiltord.

Italy had the first chance but Barthez came flying out to clear. France had the next effort, with Toldo fumbling a long shot and getting kicked in the face as Trezeguet charged in.

On the sidelines, distraught Italian coach Zoff continued to berate the fourth official, obviously arguing about the amount of injury time which had allowed France to force extra time. It was Juventus's often injured star Del Piero he should have been berating. The world's best paid player had another chance in extra time but blazed the ball high over the bar.

Zidane had his chance to prove his reputation as the world's best player after 10 minutes of extra time but his free kick, not for the first time, curled over the bar.

A minute later ZZ got on the end of a Robert Pires cross but his scissor kick was deflected around the post.

But it could only be a matter of time as France pressed for that golden goal.

And it came in the 13th minute when Pires, who may be Arsenal-bound, jinked his way to the byline and found Juventus-bound Trezeguet who thumped the ball high into the Italian net past a helpless Toldo.

It was a compelling end to a wonderful tournament. Viva la France, unlucky Italia.

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