Road to FIFA World Cup final

New Delhi: For the last one month the entire world has been eating, sleeping and living football.

When the FIFA World Cup began on June 9, both the fans and experts did not give Italy and France much of a chance of making it to the final in Berlin on July 9.

While most of them rooted for Brazil, the other favourites were Argentina, hosts Germany, England and Portugal.

But as the tournament progressed the favourites started falling by the wayside turning the form book upside down.

With the final just a few hours away here is a look at how the two teams made it to the final.

Italy's road to the final

Italy was in Group E with Ghana, Czech Republic and the United States.

Italy started their World Cup campaign with a convincing victory against Ghana. Goals from Andrea Pirlo in the 40th minute and Vincenzo Iaquinta in the 83rd minute gave Italy the three points. It was a solid overall performance from Azzurri.

Italy’s second group match against the US was the most controversial match in the tournament so far. The teams slugged out a bruising 1-1 draw, where US finished with nine men and Italy with ten. Three red cards were shown during the match, which is a World Cup record.

With a win 2-0 win over Czech Republic, Italy clinched the top spot in Group E. The scorers for Italy were substitutes Marco Materazzi in the 26th minute and Filippo Inzaghi in the 87th minute.

Francesco Totti scored a penalty in the last minute of stoppage time to give 10-man Italy a 1-0 win over Australia in the second round and reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

The Italians were clearly superior to a Ukraine side making their first appearance at the World Cup finals.

Italy had a grip on the game from the sixth minute when Gianluca Zambrotta scored the first goal. Luca Toni struck twice in the second half to give Italy a 3-0 win over Ukraine.

The 3-0 win set up Italy's first meeting with Germany at a World Cup since their victory in the 1982 final.

Fabio Grosso and Alessandro del Piero grabbed two goals in the final two minutes of extra-time to puncture the German World Cup party and send Italy into the final 2-0.

The game began at a terrific tempo and it rarely dropped as each side passed sharply and went forward probing for openings.

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France's road to the final

Placed in Group G, 1998 champions France started out as favourites ahead of South Korea, Switzerland and Togo with an impressive lineup of international footballers.

But memories of their shock first round exit in 2002 came haunting back as they drew their first two rubbers against Switzerland and South Korea 0-0 and 1-1 respectively.

With their inspirational captain Zinedine Zidane suspended for their last group game against first-timers Togo, a possible elimination loomed large.

But France didn’t disappoint and went all out, winning the game in an impressive fashion ousting Togo 2-0.

An encounter with Spain was in hand and France did not particularly relish the prospect of facing a genuine contender for the title.

With an ageing Zidane back in the lineup, France started the game a little more confidently, but Spain kept coming at them, and drew first blood with a penalty, which seemed to have sealed the elimination of the Blues.

But coach Raymond Domenech’s tactics bore fruit, and France equalised with prodigy Franck Ribery, and suddenly the spirits in the French camp rose to soaring heights.

Two late regulation time goals from Patrick Vieira and Zidane capped a deserved win for Les Bleus, setting up a mouth-watering quarter-final clash with tournament favourites, Brazil in a rematch of their encounter in the 1998 final.

France’s rejuvenated spirit was too much to handle for even the five-time champions, and a team mostly of veterans plotted a dramatic ending to a fine script.

France downed Brazil 1-0 courtesy a Thierry Henry goal, which brought back memories of France’s lone World Cup triumph in 1998.

Portugal, who had eliminated the Netherlands and England from the tournament, awaited the French in the semi-finals.

France’s remarkable turnaround from a one-tournament wonder to reclaiming top billing meant even a strong Portuguese side went out to them 1-0, the goal coming from none other than the great Zinedine Zidane.