Whistled down Memorable ending for a less-than-memorable match By TERRY JONES -- Edmonton Sun Mon, July 10, 2006

BERLIN -- The shrill whistles from infuriated fans rained down on the Azzurri from the vast majority of the fans in Hitler's 1936 Olympic Stadium.

From the moment Zinedine Zidane was red carded in the 111th minute, the fans whistled their displeasure at every Italian touch of the ball.

Through what remained of extra time in a 1-1 game in which Zidane was playing the final game of his glorious career, they whistled with as much gusto as you are ever likely to hear a Canadian crowd boo.

Through the shootout in which Italy scored on all five shots to win their fourth World Cup - and first since 1982 - the fans whistled at Zizou's sendoff after having spent the game cheering his penalty kick goal to give France an early 1-0 lead and his header which almost won it late in regulation time.

They didn't know in his last moment on the world stage he'd turned into an incredible idiot who made one of the dumbest moves in the history of all sports.

Unlike billions of fans around the world who watched the game on TV and saw replays of Zidane's head-butt to the chest of Marco Materazzi, the crowd in the remodelled old stadium had no clue he was guilty as sin. No replays were shown to them on the video boards. It looked, in the stadium, because of the lengthy time in which it took to deliver the red card, that referee Horacio Elizondo had been talked into it by the Italian players.

What was Zidane thinking?

How could he be so stupid?

Either way it was the worst way possible for an incredible career to come to a conclusion. And no matter where you watched it, what you saw or thought you saw, it was what you'll remember from the final of Germany 2006.

Italy winning? Oh yeah. That, too.

Zidane was in heated conversation with Materazzi as the the play went to the other end when all of a sudden he stopped, turned, and head-butted the Italian defender to the turf. That's what will be remembered tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, next decade and next millennium.

Not Materazzi's header in the 19th minute to tie the game and make it the first final in 20 years in which both teams scored.

Not any of the five shots the Italians pushed past Fabien Barthez in the shootout.

Not the players carrying their fourth World Cup to put Italy second only to Brazil's five.

Not the celebration of, finally, after losing three times, Italy winning a shootout at the World Cup.

No, the Zidane head butt will always be the freeze frame for this game.

"There are moments when you take blows ... I'm not saying I'm excusing it, but I can understand it," said coach Raymond Domenech.

"It was too bad. It was a totally useless gesture. We regret it. He also regrets it.

"Yes, we can say that Zidane being sent off was the killing moment of the game. We missed Zinedine Zidane a lot in the last 10 minutes. His absence weighed heavily on the match. Especially in extra time. The Italian team was obviously waiting for the penalty shootout."

You could make the case that until Zidane's head butt that this wasn't really a World Cup final worth remembering.

Until the whistling, even the scene wasn't memorable. The atmosphere in the stadium where Jesse Owens won gold medals in front of Hitler, was almost non-existent. There were few patches of blue representing either team in the largely corporate and home-country crowd which hadn't picked a favorite until Zidane was red carded.

This final wasn't pretty and for serious stretches was pretty bad.

Coach Marcello Lippi called the semifinal win over Germany in Dortmund, decided on two late goals just prior to the penalty shootout "the game of games."

Nobody would call this one that.

And what happened to the Azzurri after the first half? They were playing the Over The Hill Gang and it looked like they just hit Heartbreak Hill.

But they held on. They won. They played 670 minutes of soccer and only gave up two goals - one an own goal and another on Zidane's off-the-crossbar penalty kick which barely made it over the line.

They're the World Cup champions!

Yet, you wonder if the world will celebrate them like World Cup champions should be celebrated because of a final which will be remembered for all the wrong things.