Italy Wins the World Cup!!

Hundreds of people turned out in the North Beach area of San Francisco to see the World Cup final between Italy and France. Italy won in a penalty shoot out after finishing regulation time and 2 overtime periods tied 1-1. The game was intense and exciting for most of the fans in San Francisco's 'Little Italy' and in the second overtime the headbutt 'felt round the world' came down like a hammer on the hopes for the French. Frances most famous and talented player Zinedine Zidane was sent out of the game with a red card after his nasty head butt to Italian defender Marco Materazzi. Explanations were nonexistent for Zidane’s action in the 110th minute of his farewell game. He was walking upfield near defender Marco Materazzi when, in his final act for his national team, he bashed his shaven head into Materazzi’s chest. Without their leader for the shootout, the French only missed once. But Italy was perfect. Fabio Grosso clinched the Azzurri’s fourth championship, and his teammates had to chase him halfway across the pitch to celebrate. “It’s incredibly emotional. Words can hardly describe it,” Grosso said. “Maybe we still don’t realize what we have achieved. We really wanted to win and in the end we made it". Only Brazil has more World Cups, five. I was shooting for the San Francisco Chronicle and here are a few images from the day.