Glorious finale for Fabio

ByEurosport

Published 05/07/2006 at 17:04 GMT

Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro is desperate to celebrate his 100th cap on Sunday with a World Cup winner's medal. The Juventus defender put in a superhuman display in Tuesday's extra-time victory over Germany to reach Sunday's final in Berlin.

"I knew this could be my last World Cup and asked my team mates to help me reach that target of 100 games," said Cannavaro. "I have to say that they have delivered for me and in the best possible way."

In a tense encounter with the hosts, Cannavaro kept tournament top scorer Miroslav Klose quiet with Fabio Grosso and Alessandro del Piero sealing victory in a dramatic final two minutes of extra time.

"What a game that was!" exclaimed the 32-year-old. "We kept our calm throughout but I had a really good feeling about that game.

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FOOTBALL 2006 World Cup Italy-Ukraine Buffon Cannavaro

Image credit: Reuters

"The really nice thing is that again it was players who came off the bench who made the difference for us. That shows that we have a fantastic squad and that there are no rivalries."

'RAGE'

Italy can claim their fourth World Cup if they triumph in the German capital's Olympic Stadium, and Cannavaro revealed the bitter disappointments of the last World Cup and Euro 2004 have served to motivate the Azzurri squad.

"We've accumulated a lot of anger after two major disappointments. First, we lost to the hosts in 2002 and that was dubious and then we lost in Portugal," said Cannavaro.

"We put that rage to good use on the pitch and you can see that at the World Cup -- we are turning that anger into something positive."

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