France and Italy Through to Final; Sex Trafficking Fight Continues

France will play Italy in the World Cup Final 2006 in Berlin, Germany. Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Portugal were knocked-out by a 33rd minute penalty by French captain, Zinedine Zidane.

|PIC1|France were awarded the penalty after Thierry Henry was tripped in the penalty area by Ricardo Carvalho.

French goalkeeper Fabian Barthez saved a number of shots from Figo and Deco to keep France’s lead intact, but most notably fumbled a free kick from Ronaldo in the second half. However, he was lucky not to be punished for his mistake as Figo headed over on the rebound.

Now France face the prospect of a final against Italy. Zidane, who captained France as they won the 1998 World Cup, is set to retire from professional football after Sunday’s game against three-time winners Italy.

France's victory comes after Germany was knocked out of the World Cup in their semi-final match against Italy on Tuesday.

Their game was goal-less during the first 90 minutes and looked to be heading for penalties until the 119th minute of the game when Italy’s Grosso scored the devastating blow to the host nation.

Moments later Del Piero scored a second goal and thus confirmed Italy’s place in the 2006 World Cup Final.

Italy adopted a more aggressive style of play, despite their reputation for a defensive style of play, and they avoided the unwelcome prospect of a penalty shoot out against Germany - who clinically defeated their quarter final opponents Argentina on penalties.|AD|

Off the pitch it appears that campaigns against sex trafficking in Germany have been largely successful. Before the World Cup there were fears amongst Church groups that the huge influx of fans could trigger the problem of sex trafficking in many of the host cities.

The Salvation Army in particular was responsible for raising awareness of the issue, distributing over 100,000 hard hitting postcards reminding fans that many of the prostitutes in Germany are trafficked women often from Eastern Europe and Russia.

The high profile campaign apparently succeeded in drawing attention to the issue. The EU, USA and European Church groups, have all made their voices heard, and subsequently there was an increase in police raids on sex shops and brothels that have helped to keep down both legal and illegal prostitution in Germany during the tournament.