THE 2006 World Cup staged in Germany has been regarded as one of the finest both on and off the field, with Italy displaying grit and determination in defence to capture a fourth World Cup title in the 18th Edition of the tournament.
It was the second hosting of the World’s Greatest Show for the Germans after winning the 1974 Edition under the captaincy of Franz ‘The Kaiser’ Beckenbauer , who later won the Cup as Coach in 1990, before being at the helm of the Organising Committee for the 2006 Edition.
A number of new teams were featured at the 18th Edition, with English-speaking Caribbean Island Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) among them, while from the African Continent, there were Ivory Coast, Ghana, Angola and Togo and from Europe there were Ukraine and Serbia &Montenegro.
In the preliminary group of the competition, Brazil, Spain and the hosts were the only teams to win all three matches, while newcomers Ghana and Ukraine impressed to reach the second round as well.
The Germans, playing high-tempo attacking football, dominated Group A with wins against Costa Rica 4-2, Poland 1-0 and Ecuador 3-0, while the Ecuadorians rebounded to beat Poland 2-0 and Costa Rica 3-0 to progress from the group as well, with Costa Rica ending a miserable tournament with a 2-1 defeat to Poland.
In Group B, England defeated Paraguay 1-0, T&T 2-0 before drawing with Sweden at two goals apiece to top the group. The Swedish also progressed after beating Paraguay 1-0 and being held to a goal-less stalemate against T&T who failed to score a goal as they were silenced 2-0 by Paraguay.
Argentina and Holland finished with the same points at the top of Group C, but Argentina had a better goal difference after their nil-all tie when the two sides met. Both sides scored 2-1 victories over Ivory Coast but the Argentines hammered Serbia & Montenegro 6-0 while the Dutch could scrape only a 1-0 victory. Ivory Coast ended on a high with a 3-2 victory over the Serbs.
Portugal eased past Angola 1-0, Iran 2-0 and Mexico 2-1 to head Group D with the Mexicans 2nd after they defeated Iran 3-1 and tied 0-0 with Angola who also drew with Iran 1-1. In Group E, Italy asserted their position with 2-0 victories against Ghana and Czechoslovakia and drew 1-all with the USA.
Ghana then secured their place in the second round after posting 2-1 and 2-0 wins over the US and the Czechs respectively, while the Americans ended one of their poorest World Cup performances with a 3-0 loss to the Czechs.
It was easy cruising for the five-time champions Brazil in Group F where they took care of Croatia 1-0, Australia 2-0 and Japan 4-1. The Aussies also advanced after drawing 2-2 with Croatia and humbling the Japanese 3-1. The Japan–Croatia fixture did not produce a goal.
The Swiss had little difficulty in getting past Togo and South Korea by 2-0 score-lines, but were held 0-0 by France who made it to the 2nd stage with a 2-0 victory over Togo and a 1-1 tie with the Koreans who were 2-1 winners against Togo.
Group H provided Spain with limited opposition as they disposed of Ukraine 4-0, Tunisia 3-1 and Saudi Arabia 1-0. Ukraine joined the 2nd round party on the strength of their 4-0 win against the Saudis and 1-0 versus Tunisia. The final match of the group between the Saudis and Tunisia ended in a 2-2 tie.
In the second round, Italy, England and Portugal qualified for the quarterfinals after 1-0 wins against Australia, Ecuador and Holland respectively.
Germany, Brazil and France were more convincing as they ended the hopes of Sweden 2-0, Ghana 3-0 and Spain 3-1 in that order. Meanwhile the Argentines were extended into extra time before sealing a 2-1 win over Mexico, while the Swiss lost on penalties to Croatia after no goals were materialised in 120 minutes of play.
France proved to be another nightmare for the Brazilians as they went under by a 1-0 margin and the French booked their place in the last four. The dream run of debutants Ukraine was shattered by the Italians who exhibited their superiority with a 3-0 win to reach the semis.
The Germans and the Portuguese joined the final-four Party after winning penalty shootouts in matches that failed to deliver a single goal. The hosts had the better of Argentina 4-2 while Portugal overcame England 3-1 to set up an all-European semi-final.
The Italians showed their prowess in defence against an attacking German offence to advance to the Championship game via a penalty shoot out after a 1-all tie in extra time. The other match was decided from the penalty spot as Zinedine Zidane scored in the 33rd minute to seal the issue for France and end the run of Portugal who also lost the 3rd place game 3-1 to Germany.
The stage was set for Zidane to etch his name further into the history of World Cup football but fate dealt him a disgraceful bow-out on a losing note as he was red-carded for head-butting an Italian and with him went all of the French hope as Italy won 2-0 to walk away with their fourth title under the captaincy of Fabio Cannavaro.
The Portuguese won the Best Entertaining team award while Spain and Brazil shared the Fair Play Award. Germany’s Miraslov Klose with 5 goals was the top goal-getter and Zidane was the tournament’s top player.