Italy's victory thrills fans

Corona resident Giuseppe Gigliotti, 24, was too young the last time Italy made the World Cup finals in 1994 to truly feel the heartbreak of the defeat in a shootout with Brazil. Still, this year's final against France on Sunday, July 9 felt all too familiar.
&#8220I can't breathe,” he said, clutching a red, white and green beaded cross to his lips and shuddering underneath a beer-drenched Italian flag.
After 120 minutes of regulation play, the Italians had arrived at a draw with France, and the final would come to a shootout - Italy's fourth in World Cup history, all of which they had lost.
The 200-person crowd huddled around Gigliotti's Oldsmobile - which sat dead center blocking 46th Avenue at the corner of 104th Street in Corona outside Tony's Pizzeria. Mounted to the top of the car - painted with red, white and green racing stripes - was a 42-inch flat screen TV. On the doors and trunk hung beer soaked flags - soaked from the full cups tossed in the air joyfully when French captain Zinedine Zidane had been red-carded after head-butting an Italian player.
Gigliotti's car, which had been handed down to his younger brother Andrea, 19, to drive to St. John's University every day, was one of two sacrifices by the brothers to watch the game. During halftime, their second 42” flat screen TV was blown off the table where it had not been screwed into place, and the screen smashed.
&#8220We'll let the TV go. All I care about is a win,” Andrea Gigliotti said.
As the first penalty shot from midfielder Andrea Pirlo shot past French goalie Fabien Barthez, the silence that had washed over the crowd began to dissipate, and the Corona spectators erupted into cheers.
&#8220Italia, Italia,” they chanted in between shouts for Italian goalie Gianluigi Buffon.
Then Italy's fullback Paolo Grosso netted the final penalty kick, giving Italy a 5-3 victory on penalties that sparked an explosion of jubilation in Corona. As older spectators honked air horns and hugged strangers, about a dozen people climbed atop Gigliotti's patriotic car - jumping in the air and waving Italian flags. The car's hood sunk in, and the windshield cracked, as the massive TV rocked frighteningly backward and forward while the celebration continued.
Twenty teenagers dove onto 104th Street, screaming wildly as other cars passed, and the Gigliottis with a dozen friends - re-dressed in the Roman centurion costumes that they had paraded in hours before the game began. Gigliotti said he began setting up for the pandemonium at 7 a.m. that morning.
Mashed into the back of a pickup truck, Gigliotti and part of the crowd zoomed away, zipping up and down surrounding streets, shouting and honking, followed by a parade of cars sporting Italian flags.
Those on foot marched straight to &#8220Spaghetti Park” - at the corner of 108th Street and Corona Avenue - where they vowed the party would continue early into Monday morning.