It all points to penalties in Paris

IF I’d known that Roberto Beccantini was in the Croke Park press box for Ireland’s 2-2 draw with Italy, I’d have asked him to help me fill in my Lotto numbers.

La Stampa’s Beccantini, described in ‘Calcio’, John Foot’s illuminating history of Italian football, as the country’s most sophisticated football journalist, is the man who produced what must surely stand as the most forensically accurate match forecast ever, ahead of the World Cup final between Italy and France in Berlin in 2006.

According to Foot, Beccantini predicted that the game would be 1-1 in normal time (it was); that Italy’s goal would come from a corner (it did) and, that France’s David Trezeguet would miss the decisive spot kick in a penalty shoot-out which would end with the Azzurri crowned world champions (he did and they were).