World Cup, Final Prediction

Sacha says,

"I got one out of two of my semi-final predictions correct, which is par for the course. My track record for the entire World Cup has been mediocre. This makes me highly suspect that my choices have been random and should be treated as white noise for the purposes of prediction."

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. France did beat Portugal, rewarding my belated confidence in them, but Germany couldn't quite pull it off against Italy.

I was quite impressed with both teams in the Italy-Germany match, it would have made a great final, but I guess France will have something to say about that. So Italy have won me over a little since I criticized them last week, but I'll still be cheering for France. But on the other hand, I'll predict an Italian victory. Here's hoping for a good final, whatever happens. There's never been only ever been one shootout in the World Cup final before, but it wouldn't be shocking if that's what ends up deciding the game on Sunday.

[thanks Matthew for reminding me that '94 was decided on penalties, won by Brazil over Italy. I'm not sure how I forgot that one, since I can clearly remember feeling bad for Baggio - after he payed such a great semi-final, all people remember is him hitting his penalty shot almost straight into the air - just another reason why I don't like penalties much. Speaking of finals, I notice that the last final where both teams scored was '86, when Argentina beat West Germany 3-2 - I'd be pretty surprised if both Italy and France manage to score, so far the teams have only allowed three goals between them, France a late equalizer against Korea and a penalty against Spain, while Italy scored an own-goal against the Americans].