Italy owes a hefty chunk of its World Cup success to two unlikely heroes from a squad packed with top international stars.
While strikers like Alessandro del Piero and Francesco Totti were expected to set the tournament alight a month ago, unfashionable defenders Fabio Grosso and Marco Materazzi perhaps played a bigger part in securing Italy's fourth World
Cup.
Palermo left-back Grosso, 28, was plying his trade in the fourth division in 2001 and his inclusion in Marcello Lippi's team raised the doubts of several pundits. Inter stopper Materazzi, on the other hand, was considered little more than a crude understudy to classier central defenders Alessandro Nesta and Fabio Cannavaro.
What's more, he looked out of his depth in his appearances at the South Korea-Japan World Cup four years ago. But both players are now indelible parts of the nation's sporting history.
After giving away a penalty six minutes into the final with France, Materazzi hit back shortly after, jumping 2.6 meters in the air to head home Italy's equalizer. A similar leap gave the Azzurri the opening goal in the 2-0 group stage win over the Czech Republic. Those two goals make the 32-year-old Italy's joint-top Germany 2006 scorer, along with forward Luca Toni.
Grosso, meanwhile, curled in the late goal that broke the deadlock in the 2-0 semi-final win over Germany and his jinking run led to the penalty Totti transformed to knock out Australia.
Both players fired home penalties in Sunday's shoot-out, with Grosso nailing the decisive spot-kick. They carried out their defensive duties impeccably throughout the competition too. "This is (real) soccer, made up of little stories that
then become big and involve millions of people," said Serse Cosmi, who coached both players at Perugia.
"Soccer will never die as long as Fabio Grosso and Marco Materazzi exist.
"Maybe no one realizes the value of their goals and their performances yet".
Both players bloomed late and made the best of circumstance to reach the pinnacle of the soccer world. Grosso's arrival on the international stage was aided by a scarcity of left-sided Italian players. Materazzi's run in the team came courtesy of an injury to Nesta in the Czech Republic match.
Materazzi also has a bad-boy image, due to his record of involvement in off-the-ball incidents. In 2004, for example, he was banned for eight matches for punching Siena defender Bruno Cirillo in the face. The ban was one of the longest in Serie A history.
He was also sent off against Australia in Germany 2006, although pundits agreed the foul was not violent and the red card excessive. British daily The Guardian reported that Materazzi abused Zinedine Zidane to provoke the head-butt that led to the French star's sending off in the final, quoting Zidane's agent.
But the Italian player's father, Giuseppe Materazzi, told ANSA Monday that the Azzurri defender was the one who suffered provocation. "Head-butting an opponent can never be justified. It should be condemned, even if the person who does it is called Zidane," Giuseppe Materazzi said.
