France can produce one of the most remarkable comebacks in the World Cup on Sunday if they beat Italy and win a title that hardly anybody nominated them for. After a poor qualifying campaign and a sluggish start in the tournament, France were sparked back to life through age-defying performances from veterans who succeeded to restore glimpses of their glamorous periods. But many Frenchmen believe their team were also backed by history that stood by the 1998 champions starting from the knock-out stages in Germany and still slightly favors them in their head-to-head clashes with the Italians. Les Bleus played Italy in five competitive games, winning the last three encounters and losing twice, including a game in the 1938 World Cup. And the Italians believe their losing streak against France over the past 20 years may be a bad omen. "Italy had a very good record against Germany and we managed to keep it up. Let's hope the trend is reversed in the game against France," Italy's great Marco Tardelli said ahead of the final. "I have to admit, though, that France have always caused us problems," added Tardelli, who was one of Italy's stars in the World Cup 1982, in an interview with FIFAworldcup.com. French Domination France's last game against Italy was also in a final, but that of the EURO 2000 when both sides combined to stage one of the most dramatic matches in the history of football. Trailing 1-0 in the dying seconds, France almost lost hope to level against an airtight Italian defense and giant goalkeeper Francesco Toldo. But a last-gasp equalizer from Sylvain Wiltord forced the game into extra time and David Trezeguet had the final word when he pinned a golden goal to give France an out-of-the-blue title. The victory gave France the honor of holding the European trophy simultaneously with the 1998 World Cup where they disposed of the Azzuri en rout to the final.
Both sides failed to break the deadlock for 120 minutes in Paris and the hosts faced the danger of elimination on penalties. The penalty shootout ended in a nail-biting 4-3 victory for France who went on to scoop their first ever World Cup trophy. Ironically, their previous encounter was less interesting as France icon Michel Platini and fellow striker Yannick Stopyra scored to hand Les Bleus an easy win over defending champions Italy in the knock-out stage of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. Astrologist Not Historian Despite the impressive record, France coach Raymond Domenech, a big believer in astrology, remains unconcerned about what history says. When he was repeatedly reminded by French media throughout the tournament of France's dominance over their opponents, Domenech used to play down the importance of the remarks. "These are other teams, in another place and another contest. We can't rely on history here," Domenech said before the quarter-finals when reporters recalled France's victories over Brazil in 1998 and 1986. In an interview with L'Equipe ahead of the semis, a stage where France always beat the Portuguese, he said: "If history counts, Uruguay should have won all World Cup trophies by now." Domenech, who didn't pick up any 'Scorpios' and was worried of having many 'Leos' in his squad, may be right because France's games with Italy before Mexico 86 were not that successful. France were easily beaten by Italy 3-1 before their own crowd in the quarter-finals of the 1938 World Cup. Silvio Piola scored twice for Italy and Gino Colaussi added a third while Oscar Heisserer notched France's consolation goal. Italy also won the 1978 World Cup encounter in the group stage when Paolo Rossi and Renato Zaccarelli found the net to give the Azzuri a 2-1 win.
