World Cup 2006 - Review of the tournament

June 9th. 6.05pm local time. The first match of the 2006 World Cup is underway. German full back, Philipp Lahm finds the ball down the left flank. He cut inside and releases a stunning right footed effort into the top right corner of the Costa Rican goal. The World suddenly woke up. The World Cup had started.

One month later, 10.40pm local time. Fabio Grosso places the ball on the penalty spot. He takes a run up, and buries the crucial penalty in the World Cup final, sending Fabian Barthez the wrong way. Italy are World Champions for the fourth time.

A lot can happen in the space of a month. Glorious highs, depressing lows. Shock results, Heroes, Villains, Stunning goals, Classic matches. This years World Cup has seen all of these.

The Highs

The main high, like in every World Cup, is seeing the winning team lift the trophy. On July 9th in Berlin, the Italian captain, Fabio Cannavaro, who had been one of the most impressive players in the tournament, lifted the trophy, following his 100th international appearance for Italy. The little man lifting the little trophy is without question, one of the greatest moments of the tournament, with the World looking on with jealous eyes. This is a great achievement bearing in mind the match fixing scandal in Italy. The players were under an immense amount of pressure, and at one point they were said to be ‘no longer playing for the World Cup, but for the credibility of Italian football.’ Not much pressure, then!

Another great high was the performance of the host nation, Germany. In recent World Cups, the host nation have a tendency to do well, and this years tournament was no exception. Germany won all 3 matches in their group without too many problems, before seeing off Sweden and Argentina in the knockout rounds. Before the tournament, many people were writing ff Germany, following a poor build up. Jurgen Klinsmann was one of the most unpopular men in Germany before the World Cup, but he soon turned that around. By the time of the semi finals, many regarded the Germans as favourites to win the title. They came close to making it to the final, but were cruelly knocked out in the last minute extra time by two Italian goals in quick succession. But they made up for this by winning the 3rd place play off against Portugal on Saturday 8th July, to round off a very successful World Cup. German Miroslav Klose won the golden boot, with 5 goals in the tournament, and Lukas Podolski won the Young player of the World Cup award, to make sure two awards will be staying in Germany.

The lows

Unavoidably, one of the biggest lows of the tournament was England’s pitiful performances. They were far from convincing in their group games, struggling past Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago, before being held by Sweden. They then scraped past Ecuador in the second round, before being sent crashing out in the quarter final at the hands of Portugal, following a penalty shootout. The manager, Sven Goran Erikkson, was highly criticised throughout the World Cup, from his controversial squad selection, to his poor choice of formation. England player 4-5-1 on a number of occasions, and even the FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, described their performances as ‘boring.’ England felt hard done by after seeing star striker, Wayne Rooney was sent off against Portugal, but with only 4 strikers taken, and just one playing up front, did they really stand a chance?

In every World Cup, the World loves the see a fluent Brazil, a skilful Brazil, a breathtaking Brazil. Sadly, this time round, the South American giants failed to impress. They didn’t look convincing when they beat Croatia and Australia in the group stages, the only game in which they played the way they should was against Japan. Despite falling a goal behind, they showed the World what they can do, and skilfully scored four goals to win the match 4-1. But from that point, it was downhill all the way. They benefited from some poor refereeing decisions in their 3-0 victory over Ghana, but looked far from their best. And in the quarter final, they were knocked out by France, following a Zinedine Zidane master class, and a tap in from Thierry Henry. The Brazilian fans were rightfully disappointed, and a 20 foot statue of their star player, Ronaldinho was burned down in a southern Brazilian village following their countries’ poor display.

The Heroes

Two words. Zinedine Zidane. The French maestro has now retired from all football, and showed some incredible performances for his country, particularly against Brazil in the quarter final. One of the greatest players of recent times was in fine form during the tournament, and was instrumental for France, as they reached the World Cup final. As a result, he received the Golden Ball award, as the best player in the tournament. His legacy was tainted however, as his last action on the football pitch was a red card, following a head butt on Italian defender Marco Materazzi.

Another World Cup hero was the Italian captain, Fabio Cannavaro. He had a huge influence, and was solid as a rock in the Italian defence. He was without doubt, one of the greatest players in the tournament, and was certainly worthy of lifting the World Cup on July 9th.

Brazilian centre forward, Ronaldo cemented his place as one of the greatest strikers ever as he broke the record for most goals in the World Cup. His goal against Ghana in the second round was enough to surpass the previous record of 14, achieved by the German, Gerd Muller. This was one of the few high points of a relatively poor tournament for Brazil.

One man who went from hero to zero in the space of a month was the German manager, Jurgen Klinsmann. Before the World Cup, the majority of the German fans wished he would go back to his Californian home, and stay there! However, he won the country over as he guided Germany to 3rd place in the World Cup. Jurgen is now a German hero, and the country is currently begging him to stay as coach! An incredible turnaround.

And finally, Owen Hargreaves. Yes, Owen Hargreaves. Before the tournament, Owen was one of the least popular players in the English squad, and most people were wondering how and why Sven Goran Eriksson decided to take him to Germany. But, in the quarter final against Portugal, he silenced his critics and won the country over with a fantastic individual display. He covered a huge amount of ground in the match, and never gave less than 100%. He was the only Englishman to score a penalty in the shootout, which is a fair reflection of how good he was in that match. One of very few positives that can be taken from England’s performance in the World Cup.

The Villains

Two words. Zinedine Zidane. The Frenchman, who has now retired, had a chance to end his career in the best possible way, he could have potentially lifted the World Cup, but instead he lost his cool with just 10 minutes of his career left, he received a red cars, after head butting Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the chest. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, this is one of the worst ways to end an otherwise magnificent career. Maradonna is now remembered for his ‘hand of god’, and perhaps Zidane will now be remembered for his head butt, rather than being one of the greatest players ever.

One of the other great villains of the World Cup is Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo is now one of the most unpopular players in the World, as he seemed to protest to the referee in their game against England, to get his club mate Wayne Rooney sent off. Rooney was then shown the red card, and Ronaldo went over to Scolari and winked to him, as if to say ‘job done.’ As a result, Ronaldo has been on the end of some harsh press in England, and was booed by the opposition fans in his other two matches of the tournament against France and Germany.

Regardless of the Ronaldo incident, former England manager Sven Goran Eriksson did a very poor job managing the team in the World Cup. His tactics failed to convince, and he was criticised time and time again for his squad choice, his substitutions and his team selections. Despite apologising several times to the press, Sven is now unpopular with many English fans, and many feel England are no further forward than when Sven was appointed manager five years ago.

And finally, perhaps Marco Materazzi will be regarded as a villain. He appeared to say something to French captain Zinedine Zidane, who then turned around and head butted him. Materazzi is known as an aggressive player, and perhaps he said something that needed retaliation from Zidane? Who knows, but for now, he will be regarded as a hero by the Italian fans, as he scored a crucial goal in the World Cup final.

The Shocks

Most World Cups seem to have some huge shocks. This time around, there didn’t seem to be that many, but nevertheless, some results and performances stand out as shocking.

Firstly, Ghana produced a big shock as they powered their way past the Czech Republic in a 2-0 victory. This, and a win over the United States, was enough to send them into the second round of the competition. They then tried their best, but were unable to beat Brazil, but they suffered at the hands of some controversial refereeing decisions.

Perhaps the other big shock was seeing Brazil, the best team in the World, exit at the quarter final stage. Many thought they would easily win the trophy, with star players such as Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Adriano and Kaka. But they failed to shine, and tamely exited the competition at the hands of France.

Apart from this, Trinidad and Tobago’s draw against Sweden, and Ecuador’s win over Poland spring to mind when you think about shock results, but on the whole, the tournament produced few real shocks or surprises.

Stunning goals

However, this years World Cup produced a number of breathtaking goals. Perhaps the aerodynamics of the match ball helped. The ball is relatively light, and swerves easily in the air, which may have caused some of the goals we saw fly in from outside the penalty area.

Arguably the best goal of the tournament was Argentina’s second goal against Serbia and Montenegro. The South American side produced no fewer than 24 passes en route to goal, before the moved was finished off by Esteban Cambiasso’s strike from just inside the penalty area. A joy to watch, and undoubtedly, one of the best team goals of all time.

If it weren’t for that goal, perhaps Argentina’s other great goal, a beautiful volley from Maxi Rodriguez against Mexico would have been the best in the tournament. Rodriguez cushioned the ball on his chest before turning and sending an unstoppable volley into the Mexican goal. Outstanding!

Another goal with fantastic build up play was Spain’s fourth and final goal against Ukraine. Defender Carles Puyol powered his way into the opposition half before skipping past a Ukrainian, switching the ball with his team mate, and eventually heading the ball into the path of the onrushing Fernando Torres to fire in the goal, and leave the crowd breathless.

Other great long range efforts include Joe Cole’s stunning volley against Sweden, and Steven Gerrard’s excellent strike against Trinidad and Tobago. Two of the few good moments from England’s campaign. We also saw two great strikes from German winger Bastian Schweinsteiger in the third place play off against Portugal. And while we’re on the subject of Germany, the Germans scored two stunning strikes in the opening match against Costa Rica. In the opening few minutes, Philipp Lahm’s excellent right footed effort curled beautifully into the top right corner of the goal, and in the closing few minutes, Torsten Frings hit an excellent shot from outside the area, which swerved into the Costa Rican goal. And lets not forget Tomas Rosicky’s beautiful effort against the USA, which showed Arsenal fans a glimpse of what they can expect next season from the Czech midifelder.

So, all in all, one thing we weren’t short of in the World Cup was outstanding goals! The worldwide audience was treated to an excellent goal fest in Germany.

Classic matches

The World Cup has seen some great matches. None less than the pulsating semi final between Italy and Germany. The match was very close, and the match seemed destined to be going to penalties. Italy had other ideas. In the 118th minute of the match, Fabio Grosso curled in a goal to take Italy to the final, and Del Piero made sure of that minutes later.

Another great game was between Argentina and Mexico in the second round. The match saw an early goal from each team, before a stunning injury time winner from Maxi Rodriguez was enough to send Argentina through to the next round.

But apart from that, there weren’t that many great matches. And are these the matches that will be passed down from one generation to the next? I don’t think so. All in all, there were some fantastic matches, but not that many.

Conclusion

All in all, we’ve seen a great sporting event this year in Germany. In may not have been the best World Cup ever, but there’s no doubt it had immense drama and some excellent moments. We’ve had laughter, we’ve had tears, and we’ve seen some fantastic football action. The memories of this World Cup wont be forgotten for a long time.

The World now has to wait for another 4 years, before the greatest footballing event is next held in South Africa. Lets just hope it can live up to some of the great standards we have seen this time around.