Vittoria!

It took a heart-stopping first half, recovering from the first hostile goal scored on Gianluigi Buffon in the entire tournament, a well-deserved red card on France's come-out-of-retirement superstar for a mean-spirited head-butt to the chest, and a flawless performance on penalty kicks. But Forza Italia emerged triumphant -- the winners of the 2006 World Cup. The score reads 1:1 (5:3) but there's a lot more to the story than the score.

This is Italy's fourth World Cup (Brazil, with five, is the only country to have won more) in six appearances in the final and it's a big triumph after all the competition along the way. The Brazilians looked scary, and there's the old saying that what we Americans call soccer "is a simple game with 22 players who chase a ball for 90 minutes and in the end the Germans win." But I've been pulling for the Azzurri ever since my own country got knocked out of the tournament.

There will not be a sporting event of this magnitude on Earth again until South Africa 2010. Now, it's time for me to start thinking about American football.