however it comes

Shakira made a surprise visit for the closing ceremony, and her 'honest hips' didn't lie.. the fact was that the Final was going to be won by the team that played smartest, and not necessarily best. once again, the Italians played the 'catenaccio' to perfection, withdrawing and letting the French do all the running and expend their energy, and hitting back on the counter-attack.

it wasn't a great Final, one of the worse ones over the years actually. that was no surprise, especially with the way the game started! normalcy was restored after 20 minutes with the score 1-1, and the tactical battle ensued. a moment of madness by French star Zidane led to his forever staining the legacy of his great career. a penalty shootout was the only logical solution to the stalemate, where the Italians exorcised their penalty kick demons by scoring five out of five, and hey.. "we are the champions, we are the champions, of the world!"

and so a World Cup tainted by cheating, diving and other untoward actions came to a close. for one month, the soccer world had come to a standstill for this, as had the lives of millions of people. back to real life now i guess, with the consolation that Italy won at least - forza Italia!