Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon might go onto the history books if his team goes for 90 minutes without conceding any goal.

A clean sheet over the 90 minutes of Sunday’s Final will see Buffon – last beaten in the 27th minute of Italy’s second group game against the USA when Cristian Zaccardo put through his own net - establish a new FIFA World Cup record.

The current record is held by another Italian, Walter Zenga, who went 517 minutes without conceding a goal at Italia 90, going five matches unbeaten before Argentina’s Claudio Caniggia scored in the 67th minute of the semi-final.

* Italy’s progress to Sunday’s Final has extended their remarkable run of FIFA World Cup matches without defeat on European soil (excluding penalty shoot-outs) to 25. Their last reverse came in Germany in 1974, when the Azzurri were beaten 2-1 by Poland.

* The FIFA World Cup Final in Berlin on Sunday will be Fabio Cannavaro’s 100th cap for Italy. It puts the current Azzurri captain third in the list of all-time Italian internationals, behind Paolo Maldini, who won 125 caps, and another goalkeeper, Dino Zoff, with 112.

Source: WCoffsite