World Cup news

Reuters journalists covering the World Cup finals in Germany selected the following 11 players as their team of the tournament:

Gianluigi Buffon (Italy); Gianluca Zambrotta (Italy), Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), Lilian Thuram (France), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Franck Ribery (France), Gennaro Gattuso (Italy), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Patrick Vieira (France), Zinedine Zidane (France); Miroslav Klose (Germany).

French predict victory - poll

Almost nine out of 10 French are convinced their team will beat Italy and take home the World Cup today, according to a poll in the Le Parisien newspaper yesterday.

The poll of 513 people showed 86 per cent believe the national team will win in Berlin while only five per cent think not.

People younger than 30 are the most fervent supporters with 92 per cent predicting a win while pensioners and people in the rural areas are slightly less convinced.

Dry weather expected for final

The heavy rains and thunderstorms that have doused Berlin's heat wave in the last two days will have left the capital by today's World Cup final, Germany's leading meteorologist said.

Joerg Kachelmann, ARD television's weather forecaster, told Reuters that temperatures at kick-off at 8 p.m. today for the match at Olympiastadion between Italy and France would be 24 degrees.

That is well below the stifling highs of 35 degrees recorded three days ago in western sections of Berlin around the stadium before a series of thunderstorms drenched the city.

"We're going to see clouds and patches of blue skies in between with a 20 per cent chance of showers," Kachelmann said of the weather at the stadium this evening.

A thunderstorm and cloud burst on Friday evening forced the cancellation of an outdoor concert at the Brandenburg Gate for World Cup fans. There were further spells of rain in Berlin yesterday.

Klinsmann's old beetle on sale

A 39-year-old Volkswagen Beetle that once belonged to Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann is on sale in a frenzied auction.

The blue 1967 VW convertible that Klinsmann drove in 1994 and 1995 while playing at Tottenham Hotspur has jumped from 105,000 euros to over 300,000 euros ($383,200) in the internet auction eBay.

The price for the auction is well above the $245,000 an internet casino paid last year for a used Volkswagen Golf owned years earlier by Pope Benedict XVI.

Klinsmann has said he gave away the car, which was fun to drive as well as being something of an anti-establishment symbol, over 10 years ago when a mechanic told him it was "kaputt".

Lippi rejects talk of United switch

Italy coach Marcello Lippi said yesterday that reports linking him with a move to Manchester United after today's World Cup final against France were untrue.

"There is no truth in these reports at all," Lippi told a news conference.

Asked by an English journalist if he would be interested in joining Premier League United, Lippi said through a translator: "The fact that I haven't understood a single word of what you just asked me should give you an idea.

"You can't go and work somewhere if you don't speak a word of the language."

Lippi's contract with the Italian Football Federation runs out after the World Cup and his future is uncertain. The former Juventus coach has refused to discuss whether he will be staying with the Azzurri or returning to club football.

Manchester United have also denied the English newspaper reports which suggested Lippi could eventually take over from United manager Alex Ferguson.

World Cup top scorers

5 goals Klose (Germany).

3 goals Torres (Spain); Villa (Spain); Podolski (Germany); Rodriguez (Argentina); Ronaldo (Brazil); Crespo (Argentina); Henry (France).

2 goals Rosicky (Czech Republic); Cahill (Australia); Wanchope (Costa Rica); Bravo (Mexico); Delgado (Ecuador); C. Tenorio (Ecuador); Bosacki (Poland); Gerrard (England); Dindane (Ivory Coast); Zidane (France); Vieira (France); Shevchenko (Ukraine); Frei (Switzerland); Maniche (Portugal); Adriano (Brazil); Toni (Italy); Schweinsteiger (Germany).