Italy downs host Germany with two overtime goals

	Fabio Grosso (left) celebrates after scoring the game's first goal in overtime. AP

DORTMUND, Germany (AP) -- Maybe the World Cup is the easy part for Italy.

With scandal tearing apart the national sport back home, the Italians kept plowing through soccer's premier event Tuesday night with a last-minute win just when it seemed a penalty shootout was inevitable.

Fabio Grosso twisted a left-footed shot into the far side of the net in the 119th minute, then Alessandro Del Piero clinched the 2-0 win a minute later with a counterattacking goal as the Germans pressed desperately to equalize.

The swiftness of the goals was stunning -- Germany had pressured for the game's last hour. But Italy, which has allowed only an own-goal in six games, held off the hosts and crushed their hopes for a fourth title.

Now the Italians head to Berlin for Sunday's final in search of a fourth trophy of their own. They'll play the winner of Wednesday's Portugal-France match.

In handing the Germans their first loss in 15 games at Dortmund, the Azzurri also won for the third time in five World Cup meetings with Germany, with two draws.

Their reserves rushed onto the field after Grosso took a brilliant tap pass from Andrea Pirlo in the box and tucked his shot beyond the leaping reach of goalkeeper Jens Lehmann and just inside the post.

Until then, it seemed Germany might find the net. Yet, with the hosts pushing forward in desperation, the Italians struck again on a two-on-one break. Del Piero finished with a right-footed blast into the top of the net just before the whistle sounded.

The Italians, who last won the World Cup in 1982, mobbed each other and rolled around on the field as their fans in one corner of the stadium jumped in delight, waving the green, white and red flags in ecstasy.

What the Italians have faced off the field could easily have sapped them of their resolve. The match-fixing scandal reached new heights Tuesday when a prosecutor called for demotions of Serie A teams that many of Italy's players star on.

While the Italians celebrated, the Germans collapsed in dismay.

The home crowd stuck around to cheer their heroes, who were supposed to be too young and inexperienced to challenge for this trophy. Instead, Juergen Klinsmann's entertaining squad performed superbly, and the crowd sang to them and chanted their names and "Deutschland, Deutschland" after the match. Captain Michael Ballack and several others cried as they left the field, defeated but unashamed.

They just couldn't finish the heady Italians, whose technical mastery, particularly on defense, was surpassing.

Italy is unbeaten in 24 games as it heads to its first World Cup title game since losing to Brazil in 1994.

Germany will play in the third-place game Saturday in Stuttgart, hardly where it planned to be.

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