France vs Italy: Quarter-Final Place Decider

What a battle. Re-match of the World Cup final. Italy vs France. The repeat of the Euro 00 final, that France won I believe.

The winner gets a quarter-final berth while the loser goes home shroued in doubts of the quality of their national side and whether their world cup results were accurate.

I'm picking France to win 2-1 with a late goal to chrush Italy's hopes.

How does everyone think the game will go?

I wouldn't punch either teams ticket to the Qtrs just yet. Holland has absolutely nothing to gain by beating Romania and much more to lose. Why play your starters against a very physical Romanian side which will really try to take them out of their game. With the exception of Robben who could use the time, I hope I see very little of their stars. Besides, which of the 3 would you rather face in the Semis if it got to that. An Italian or french team that has seen you once or a Romanian team that saw your 2nd unit?

If Italy and france play to a tie, Romania will only need to lose by less than 3 goals to move on. Tuesdays games will be very interesting.

Drew, you seem to have a huge fascination with both soccer and gay men. Why don't you avoid these boards until you figure out which is more important to you and what you will do about it.

It's set up for a draw and Romania to go through with 2 points.