Rooting for the "home" team during World Cup broadcast

Afterward at Ivo Grossi's house in Queen Anne, they argued: Was it the shuffle? The sage? Or just destiny, somehow finding its way into the net?

An estimated audience of 1 billion watched Sunday's World Cup final worldwide, in which Italy scored a 5-3 victory on penalty kicks over longtime rival France.

In Seattle, they clogged places like Belltown's La Vita É Bella and Fremont's Pontevecchio Sicilian Bistro. At the Pike Place Market, a mostly pro-France crowd cheered over mussels and Bloody Marys at French restaurant Maximilien.

"People forget about war and drop down their boundaries for this," said Lynn Varey of Toronto, in town with her husband, Ray, for an education conference.

But the most spirited fans may have been found at homes like Grossi's, where more than 30 friends and relatives assembled. Preaching confidence, they instead exuded anxiousness, hugging their throw pillows, nibbling at fingernails and grumbling at the screen.

"There's languages from all over the place," said a hoarse Grossi, Seattle-based marketing director for an Italian fitness-equipment company. "English, Italian, Spanish."

He added, with a wagging finger: "But no French."

World Cup soccer inspires a mixture of nationalism, global style and even superstition.

Grossi's wife, Cosetta, had persuaded the stylists at a nail studio to paint her toenails the colors of the Italian flag.

"I drove them crazy," Cosetta said. "I had to draw for them what I wanted. Green here, white here, red here. It took half an hour to explain."

Grossi switched between ABC and Univision's broadcasts of the game any time the announcers said something the group considered detrimental to their cause, while someone called for the crowd to shuffle seats late in the game in hopes of swaying fate.

But it may have been Cosetta Grossi's actions that made the difference. "I'm gonna burn some sage, what do you think?" she asked as the game headed into its deciding moments. Minutes later, for good luck, she was spreading small streams of sage incense in front of the TV and from atop the family's leather sofa, the room thick with sagey smoke.

Anxiety turned to anger when French player Zinedine Zidane plugged Italy's Marco Materazzi with a vicious head-butt to the chest late in the game — with no initial call from officials.

After some discussion, a red card was given to Zidane, prompting a hail of cheers and then disbelief that the retiring French star would err so badly at such a crucial time.

Still, when the Italian team couldn't take advantage of the mismatch in the overtime period, the game came down to the penalty kicks, historically never kind to the Italians.

Creeping ever closer to the television, the crowd hunched en masse to watch the teams face off in alternating penalty kicks, the Italians going first.

Cheers as Italy scored, 1-0.

Sighs as the French tied it, 1-1.

Cheers again. 2-1.

And then a torrent of whoops as the French missed what would turn out to be their crucial second kick. Three successful penalty kicks later, Italy had won the shootout 5-3, unleashing a frenzy of raised fists, tears, joyful embraces and exuberant jumping that threatened to rock the hillside home from its foundations.

Before long, the text messages were pouring in to Grossi's phone from around the globe, but the best one came from home.

"Campiono del mondo," it said. World champions.

Marc Ramirez: 206-464-8102 or mramirez@seattletimes.com