Where will you be tonight?

The line outside the Olympic Stadium told the story: Hundreds of hopefuls looking for a ticket they never thought they would need.

The line outside the Olympic Stadium told the story: Hundreds of hopefuls looking for a ticket they never thought they would need. A World Cup that has been free of the upsets of four years ago ends on Sunday in a final between two teams who, even two weeks ago, you wouldn’t have bet on.

Yet Italy and France are here, in this city with which both have strong historic links, each defying the odds and the predictions of experts—and even their own fans. ‘‘Big, big mistake,’’ said Simone from Bologna. ‘‘We have no faith in the team but they have the faith in us. Now we cannot get a ticket.’’

He’s certainly right about the last part; tickets are going for around 10 times their face value, and that’s only where they are available. Those who can’t will head for Berlin’s famous ‘Fan mile’, in the shadow of the Brandenburg Gate; more than a million are expected there tomorrow but the party had already begun today.

This is a match even the neutrals would love to see, and who would have said that a month ago? Yet the manner in which Italy and France have confronted, and stared down, their demons, is what sport is all about. Seven of Italy’s starting line-up are with clubs implicated in the match-fixing scandal; whatever happens tomorrow, they will probably have to look for alternative employment back home.

Yet in the past couple of weeks, they have shown us the other side of Serie A, the peerless technique and tactics that make Italian football what it is. Of all the major teams at this World Cup, Italy are the only 100 per cent home-based squad; they simply don’t need to play anywhere else. That technique is best exemplified by Andrea Pirlo, their frail playmaker, and Fabio Cannavaro, their lion-hearted captain.

France’s ageing squad were written off by fans, media and every pundit. Their first four matches did nothing to suggest otherwise. They were lucky to scrape through the group stage and then beat Spain only after a Thierry Henry dive. Yet the dramatic nature of that win proved the catalyst for a grand revival and, in their subsequent matches, we could hear the traditional chants of Allez les bleus interspersed with those of allez les vieux (come on, you oldies)! As if the drama of a World Cup final wasn’t enough, Sunday’s match has a twist: It will be the last time we see Zinedine Zidane in action. For France that fact is compounded by the imminent retirement also of Lillian Thuram and Claude Makelele. These three musketeers came out of retirement a year ago when France were stumbling in the qualifying rounds, and inspired the team to eventual qualification.

Sunday is also the perfect day for Henry, widely recognised as the world’s second-best player, to prove it at the climax of a personally disappointing tournament. ‘‘He’s the one player who can win it for France,’’ Sir Geoff Hurst, the only man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, told this paper today. ‘‘He’s been playing in Zidane’s shadow but this is the platform to show that he is really the best.’’ It won’t be that easy. There will be 21 other players trying to do exactly that. This is, after all, the World Cup Final.