Most pundits had written off Croatia’s chances before a ball had even been kicked, with the Eastern Europeans’ stalwarts all approaching the tail-end of their careers. The form book seemed accurate in the opening exchanges anyway, as Italy’s slick mechanically efficient team contained their opponents with ease. However the favorites had their plans thrown into disarray in the 22nd minute when Alessandro Nesta sustained an injury and had to be replaced by Marco Materazzi in the heart of defence. The Inter Milan defender was called into action immediately when Gianluigi Buffon failed to hold onto Davor Vugrinec’s rasping drive and Materazzi had to hoof the rebound clear of Alen Boksic.

After a dismal 0-1 defeat to Mexico in their opening game, Croatia had to win to avoid an early exit from the tournament, and they took the game to Italy with some fine enterprising play to cause consternation in their opponents’ penalty area. Italy struggled to apply any pressure of their own in a dull first half but still went ahead in the 56th minute when Christian Vieri towered above the Croat defence to meet Christiano Doni’s fine cross with a looping header over Pletikosa. Delighted by his goal, Vieri ran down the touchline and attempted to whip off his jersey, only to find the Superman spandex glued firmly to his chest. I’d like to see Robbie Fowler attempting his old front-to-back celebration with that jersey on.

Encouraged by the goal, the Italians gained a firm control of the game without really threatening Croatia’s goal as they seemed content to hang on for a 1-0 win. Fate deals some strange cards at the unlikeliest moments though, and some poor defending allowed Croatia to restore parity in the 71st minute when Robert Jarni’s cross from the left was allowed to flash past the dithering Italian defence and substitute Ivica Olic sneaked in to trap the ball into the opposite corner of the net.

The real action came in the celebrations when Olic lifted his jersey (perhaps to rub salt to Vieri’s wounded pride) to reveal a singlet with some message written on it, only for his delirious teammates to mob around him and obscure his personal work from the cameras. Obscure footballers only get to score in the World Cup Finals so many times in their short careers...

But if Vieri’s celebration was hilarious, then Olic’s bordered on the farcical. Struggling to wear his jersey back on (it’s of the duo-layered variety, sealed together at the neck line), Olic had to endure the humiliation of turning to assistance at the by-line for a coaching staff to snip off the inner layer with a pair of scissors. Meanwhile, back on the field, Croatia suddenly broke away on the right in a quick counter-attack but Milan Rapaic just failed to connect with a low cross with the goal at his mercy. One can’t help wondering just where Olic would have had been if he had managed to win the tug-of-war with his conniving jersey to stay on the field.

It didn’t matter though, as Croatia struck again a minute later to overturn their deficit. A poorly cleared cross was headed back into the box by Niko Kovac and Milan Rapaic capitalized on Materrazi’s hesitancy to volley a looping left-footed shot over Buffon that shaved in off the far post. There was to be no more silly shirt-waving celebrations though, as the Croatians, having learnt their lesson, rallied to repel the inevitable waves of Italian assault. And so it proved, with Inzaghi coming on for Doni as the Italians attempted to salvage something from a match that they seemed to have sewn up only twenty minutes earlier.

However Italy was able to gain no favors from Lady Luck. Playmaker Francesco Totti fired in a vicious free kick in the 84th minute only for his goal-bound shot to crash off a post, miss the stranded Stipe Pletikosa on the goal-line, and miss the opposite post by a whisker. The Italians went close again five minutes later as Pletikosa parried a stinging Zambrotta drive and his defenders scrambled the rebound away before a posse of Italian players could get a foot in.

With time ticking away, Italy worked themselves into the ground to compensate for the lack of activity in the first half. In the first minute of injury time, Materrazi launched a long ball from inside his own half into the Croatian box. The ball bizarrely looped over Vieri and two defenders and rolled past Inzaghi and the goalkeeper to end up in the net, but the linesman ruled out the goal for an innocuous Inzaghi challenge, much to the Italians' chagrin.

Soon after the final whistle sounded, and another improbable upset was scored. Perhaps mindful of Olic’s earlier struggle and also of the exorbitant price of a match ticket, the jubilant Croat players threw their fanciful yet cumbersome jerseys into the crowd, hoping that their garments would never show up again. In contrast, the outraged Clark Kents could only troop dejectedly off the enervating kryptonite-green pitch, nursing a bruised pride and ruing what could have been.

Italy (4:4:2): Buffon; Panucci, Cannavaro, Nesta (Materazzi, 22), Maldini; Zambrotta, Zanetti, Tommasi, Doni (Inzaghi, 79); Totti, Vieri.

Croatia (4:4:2): Pletikosa; Saric, Kovac, Simunic, Jarni; Tomas, Soldo (Vranjes, 63), Kovac, Vugrinec (Olic, 58); Rapaic (Simic, 79), Boksic.