France and Italy Soccer Rivalry

Soccer teams from France and Italy have had a rivalry since the early 1900's. Some of the players on both teams play for other ball clubs, so many of the players know each other. This being the case, players on each team have something to prove.

Not only is the rivalry hot between the individual players, but both countries as well. These countries are neighboring countries and both Latin countries where soccer is the national sport. For many years, before 1982, Italy dominated the rivalry. For some reason, since then, the competition has gone the other way. France has dominated the competition since. In fact, France had not lost one game to Italy until the Euro Cup in 2008. What makes this rivalry even more exciting than just statistics is some of the actual games. There have been games which will forever be burned into memory as the greatest games ever played. One of the games was the World Cup of 1998. In this game, the score ended up 0-0 forcing a nerve racking penalty shootout session between both teams. France was able to eek out a win despite shooting against one of the top goalkeepers in the league but not before leaving both countries breathless as the world watched this grueling shootout.

Some say the chances of these two teams meeting in the World Cup are slim, while others say different. One of the important questions to ask is “where will the key players be?” Zidane of France has retired and Materazzi was recently injured. There are other key players who can potentially make the difference as to who goes to the World Cup at all.