World Cup carnival on Commercial

World Cup soccer final drew all of Vancouver to celebrate on funky Commercial Drive.

Call it Carnival on Commercial.

Yesterday's World Cup soccer final drew all of Vancouver to celebrate on funky Commercial Drive.

Fans sat on parking meters, pickups and park benches while the less fortunate lined up 20-deep outside the drive's cafes to get a glimpse of the game.

Rabid fans unfurled Italy's tre colore flags, while the bleu-blanc-rouge-clad French shouted "Allez."

Tension mounted in the first half, as first France's Zinedine Zidane, then Italy's Marco Materazzi, found the net to tie the game 1-1.

Aldo Lecce wandered through the crowd carrying his four-month-old granddaughter Ava, dressed head to toe in a green, white and red sleeper with colour-co-ordinated soother and socks.

"She's rooting for Italy," joked Lecce. "She's a little disappointed that France got the first goal.

"But she's pretty excited that we scored, and now she's confident Italy will win."

By halftime, the police gave up pretending that cars could continue to use the street, and a car-free Commercial was transformed into wall-to-wall humanity as crowds continued to pour into the area.

Hooting fans wandered the area armed with trumpets, air horns, drums and rhythmic chants.

Arguably the game turned in Italy's favour when Zidane threw an all-world head butt at Materazzi, and was unceremoniously thrown out of his final soccer match.

Extra time solved nothing and pressure built until penalty kicks gave the fans chance after chance to yell at the top of their lungs.

"Italia! Italia!" they cheered with each Italian goal, "Buffon! Buffon!" they yelled to back their goalkeeper each time France had its chance at the ball.

The crescendo built with each Italian goal, and finally, Fabio Grosso's clinching goal sent the fans into a frenzy. Italy won six to four.

An impromptu stage was mounted at the corner of Grant and Commercial on the bed of Ryan Bonato's Ford F-350 pickup, as more than 30 fans waved Italian flags and held mini-Cups while others stood on the truck's cab to spray the crowd with champagne.

"I love it," said Bonato, a Burnaby contractor. "I wish we could do this every four years.

"I drove down here two hours early for every Italian game, and I parked in this same spot every time, and we won.

"We finally get a chance to show our national pride."

Up and down The Drive, fans appeared out of nowhere, soon making the street virtually impassable.

"It's the party of the year," enthused North Vancouver soccer fan Darcy Austin. "I'm enjoying the ride."

Cellphones proved very popular, as fans posed for photos with their beer, or phoned friends so they could hear the ear-splitting noise over the phone.

As the Italians celebrated, French fan Sam Sebaa was philosophical.

"It was a very good game and we lost," he said, smiling weakly. "They were the better team. They had the better chances.

"But when Zidane left the game, they were leaderless. Maybe in 2010."