DUISBURG, Germany -- Any team in a World Cup final has skill
and standout players.
What decides the winner is usually hunger.
Italy plays France for the title in Berlin on Sunday, seeking a
first title since the 1982 World Cup. Its opponent still has fresh
memories of winning the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European
Championship.
"We haven't won anything," Italy coach Marcello Lippi said
Saturday. "Tomorrow we're going to sit down at a lavishly prepared
table and see who's hungrier. Technically ... the two squads are
even."
Back in Italy, celebrations are being prepared for Italy's team
whether it wins or loses, but Lippi said only one result was
acceptable.
"I want to be clear on one thing," he said. "When I hear
people talking about celebrating no matter how things turn out, it
bothers me. If we lose, we won't want to joke around. Having gotten
this far and then not winning would make me really (angry)
tomorrow.
"When in your life are you going to get a chance like this
again?"
Before Italy's 2-0 extra-time win over Germany in the
semifinals, Lippi called the Italy-Germany matchup the "game of
all games" for all the memorable matches the two countries have
played.
Lippi now says that France "is stronger than Germany."
"Germany is very strong and very young, but it doesn't have the
experience that France has right now," he said.
Sunday's game will be the last for France captain Zinedine
Zidane, the central force behind France's World Cup and European
titles. Zidane and the French beat Italy in the quarterfinals en
route to the 1998 title and again in the 2000 European final, and
Italian newspapers have dedicated pages to options for containing
him.
In 1998, Italy defender Gianluca Pessotto struggled to mark
Zidane. After the 2000 final, former Italian premier Silvio
Berlusconi called Italy's coach at the time, Dino Zoff, and
chastised him for not marking Zidane closely. The call made Zoff
resign.
The latest speculation is that Lippi, who used to coach Zidane
at Juventus, might mark him with a single man, such as midfielder
Gennaro Gattuso.
"You can never put too much focus on the importance of one
player," Lippi said. "Without forgetting about the other players,
though, because that would be the biggest mistake of all."
Italy doesn't have any players that stand out the way Zidane
does. The Azzurri's 11 goals so far have been scored by 10
different players.
"That's our strength," midfielder Andrea Pirlo said, "the
group."