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The 2006 World Cup Final ended with Italy winning a penalty shoot-out against France to lift the World Cup. The final was marred however when Ziedine Zidene ended his career by headbutting Marco Materazzi in the chest. Zidane was sent-off and France lost the final. Zidane was named player of the tournament despite this because he inspired France to get to the final in the first place. The match where Zidane really stood out was against Brazil. He didn’t score but he gave the Brazil defenders a torrid time and they could not tackle him. The most disappointing thing about the World Cup in 2006 was that several of the top teams flopped, several teams had resorted to diving/cynical play and most of the teams played negative football. Even the champions Italy didn’t play to their full potential except for the Semi-Final match with Germany. Despite the fact the score was 0-0 in the first 90 minutes, both Italy and Germany played an attacking style throughout. In the last two minutes Grosso and Del Piero scord to take Italy to the final. The rest of the tournament Italy did just enough to win their matches without ever really doing anything spectacular. One match Italy was fortunate to win was the Last 16 clash with Australia. With the team down to 10 men Italy and Australia looked likely to go to extra-time but a soft penalty went in Italy’s favour when Francesco Totti dived in the penalty area. Totti scored the penalty and after that Italy took a comfortable 3-0 win over Ukraine. Argentina showed a lot of promise in the group stages when they hammered Serbia & Montenegro 6-0, one of the goals was an amazing 24 pass move finished of by Esteban Cambiasso, but ultimately Argentina were a disappointment when they started playing negative football in the Quarter-Final match with Germany. Brazil, England, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal (despite finishing 4th) and Sweden were amongst the teams that were a huge disappointment at the 2006 World Cup.

• Highlights from the 2006 World Cup

{gallery}2006WorldCup{/gallery}

Results

World Cup 2006 Group A-C results

World Cup 2006 Group D-F results

World Cup 2006 Group G-H results

World Cup 2006 Knockout Stage Results

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Germany	3	3	0	0	8	2	+6	9
Ecuador	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	6
Poland	3	1	0	2	2	4	−2	3
Costa Rica	3	0	0	3	3	9	−6	0

9 June 2006
Germany	4 – 2	Costa Rica
Poland	0 – 2	Ecuador
14 June 2006
Germany	1 – 0	Poland
15 June 2006
Ecuador	3 – 0	Costa Rica
20 June 2006
Ecuador	0 – 3	Germany
Costa Rica	1 – 2	Poland

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
England	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	7
Sweden	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5
Paraguay	3	1	0	2	2	2	0	3
Trinidad and Tobago	3	0	1	2	0	4	−4	1

10 June 2006
England	1 – 0	Paraguay
Trinidad and Tobago	0 – 0	Sweden
15 June 2006
England	2 – 0	Trinidad and Tobago
Sweden	1 – 0	Paraguay
20 June 2006
Sweden	2 – 2	England
Paraguay	2 – 0	Trinidad and Tobago

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Argentina	3	2	1	0	8	1	+7	7
Netherlands	3	2	1	0	3	1	+2	7
Côte d'Ivoire	3	1	0	2	5	6	−1	3
Serbia and Montenegro	3	0	0	3	2	10	−8	0

10 June 2006
Argentina	2 – 1	Côte d'Ivoire
11 June 2006
Serbia and Montenegro	0 – 1	Netherlands
16 June 2006
Argentina	6 – 0	Serbia and Montenegro
Netherlands	2 – 1	Côte d'Ivoire
21 June 2006
Netherlands	0 – 0	Argentina
Côte d'Ivoire	3 – 2	Serbia and Montenegro

Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Portugal	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	9
Mexico	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
Angola	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1	2
Iran	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1

11 June 2006
Mexico	3 – 1	Iran
Angola	0 – 1	Portugal
16 June 2006
Mexico	0 – 0	Angola
17 June 2006
Portugal	2 – 0	Iran
21 June 2006
Portugal	2 – 1	Mexico
Iran	1 – 1	Angola

Group E

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Italy	3	2	1	0	5	1	+4	7
Ghana	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1	6
Czech Republic	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
United States	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1

12 June 2006
United States	0 – 3	Czech Republic
Italy	2 – 0	Ghana
17 June 2006
Czech Republic	0 – 2	Ghana
Italy	1 – 1	United States
22 June 2006
Czech Republic	0 – 2	Italy
Ghana	2 – 1	United States

Group F

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9
Australia	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4
Croatia	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2
Japan	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1

12 June 2006
Australia	3 – 1	Japan
13 June 2006
Brazil	1 – 0	Croatia
18 June 2006
Croatia	0 – 0	Japan
Brazil	2 – 0	Australia
22 June 2006
Japan	1 – 4	Brazil
Croatia	2 – 2	Australia

Group G

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Switzerland	3	2	1	0	4	0	+4	7
France	3	1	2	0	3	1	+2	5
Korea Republic	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1	4
Togo	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	0

13 June 2006
Korea Republic	2 – 1	Togo
France	0 – 0	Switzerland
18 June 2006
France	1 – 1	Korea Republic
19 June 2006
Togo	0 – 2	Switzerland
23 June 2006
Togo	0 – 2	France
Switzerland	2 – 0	Korea Republic

Group H

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Spain	3	3	0	0	8	1	+7	9
Ukraine	3	2	0	1	5	4	+1	6
Tunisia	3	0	1	2	3	6	−3	1
Saudi Arabia	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1

14 June 2006
Spain	4 – 0	Ukraine
Tunisia	2 – 2	Saudi Arabia
19 June 2006
Saudi Arabia	0 – 4	Ukraine
Spain	3 – 1	Tunisia
23 June 2006
Saudi Arabia	0 – 1	Spain
Ukraine	1 – 0	Tunisia

Knockout stage

Round of 16

24 June 2006 17:00	Germany	2 – 0	Sweden	FIFA WM Stadion München, Munich Attendance: 66,000 Referee: Carlos Eugênio Simon (Brazil)
	Podolski 4', 12'

24 June 2006 21:00	Argentina	2 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Mexico	Zentralstadion, Leipzig Attendance: 43,000 Referee: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)
	Crespo 10' Rodríguez 98'		Márquez 6'

25 June 2006 17:00	England	1 – 0	Ecuador	Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart Attendance: 52,000 Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)
	Beckham 60'

25 June 2006 21:00	Portugal	1 – 0	Netherlands	Frankenstadion, Nuremberg Attendance: 41,000 Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia)
	Maniche 23'

26 June 2006 17:00	Italy	1 – 0	Australia	Fritz Walter Stadion, Kaiserslautern Attendance: 46,000 Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)
	Totti 90+5' (pen.)

26 June 2006 21:00	Switzerland	0 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Ukraine	FIFA WM Stadion Köln, Cologne Attendance: 45,000 Referee: Benito Archundia (Mexico)
		Penalties
	Streller Barnetta Cabanas	0 – 3	Shevchenko Milevskiy Rebrov Husyev

27 June 2006 17:00	Brazil	3 – 0	Ghana	FIFA WM Stadion Dortmund, Dortmund Attendance: 65,000 Referee: Ľuboš Micheľ (Slovakia)
	Ronaldo 5' Adriano 45+1' Zé Roberto 84'

27 June 2006 21:00	Spain	1 – 3	France	FIFA WM Stadion Hannover, Hanover Attendance: 43,000 Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)
	Villa 28' (pen.)		Ribéry 41' Vieira 83' Zidane 90+2'

Quarter-finals

30 June 2006 17:00	Germany	1 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Argentina	Olympiastadion, Berlin Attendance: 72,000 Referee: Ľuboš Micheľ (Slovakia)
	Klose 80'		Ayala 49'
		Penalties
	Neuville Ballack Podolski Borowski	4 – 2	Cruz Ayala Rodríguez Cambiasso

30 June 2006 21:00	Italy	3 – 0	Ukraine	FIFA WM Stadion Hamburg, Hamburg Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)
	Zambrotta 6' Toni 59', 69'

1 July 2006 17:00	England	0 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Portugal	FIFA WM Stadion Gelsenkirchen, Gelsenkirchen Attendance: 52,000 Referee: Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)
		Penalties
	Lampard Hargreaves Gerrard Carragher	1 – 3	Simão Viana Petit Postiga Ronaldo

1 July 2006 21:00	Brazil	0 – 1	France	FIFA WM Stadion Frankfurt, Frankfurt Attendance: 48,000 Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)
			Henry 57'

Semi-finals

4 July 2006 21:00	Germany	0 – 2 (a.e.t.)	Italy	FIFA WM Stadion Dortmund, Dortmund Attendance: 65,000 Referee: Benito Archundia (Mexico)
			Grosso 119' Del Piero 120+1'

5 July 2006 21:00	Portugal	0 – 1	France	FIFA WM Stadion München, Munich Attendance: 66,000 Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)
			Zidane 33' (pen.)

Third place play-off

8 July 2006 21:00	Germany	3 – 1	Portugal	Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart Attendance: 52,000 Referee: Toru Kamikawa (Japan)
	Schweinsteiger 56', 78' Petit 60' (o.g.)		Nuno Gomes 88'

Final

9 July 2006 20:00	Italy	1 – 1 (a.e.t.)	France	Olympiastadion, Berlin Attendance: 69,000 Referee: Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)
	Materazzi 19'	Report	Zidane 7' (pen.)
		Penalties
	Pirlo Materazzi De Rossi Del Piero Grosso	5 – 3	Wiltord Trezeguet Abidal Sagnol

ITALY: GK 1 Gianluigi Buffon RB 19 Gianluca Zambrotta 5' CB 5 Fabio Cannavaro (c) CB 23 Marco Materazzi LB 3 Fabio Grosso DM 8 Gennaro Gattuso DM 21 Andrea Pirlo RM 16 Mauro Camoranesi 86' LM 20 Simone Perrotta 61' SS 10 Francesco Totti 61' CF 9 Luca Toni Substitutes: MF 4 Daniele De Rossi 61' FW 15 Vincenzo Iaquinta 61' FW 7 Alessandro Del Piero 86' Manager: Marcello Lippi

FRANCE: GK 16 Fabien Barthez RB 19 Willy Sagnol 12' CB 15 Lilian Thuram CB 5 William Gallas LB 3 Éric Abidal CM 4 Patrick Vieira 56' CM 6 Claude Makélélé 76' RM 22 Franck Ribéry 100' AM 10 Zinedine Zidane (c) 110' LM 7 Florent Malouda 111' CF 12 Thierry Henry 107' Substitutes: MF 18 Alou Diarra 56' FW 20 David Trezeguet 100' FW 11 Sylvain Wiltord 107' Manager: Raymond Domenech

Awards

Golden Boot Winner	Golden Ball Winner	Yashin Award	Best Young Player	FIFA Fair Play Trophy	Most Entertaining Team
Miroslav Klose	Zinedine Zidane	Gianluigi Buffon	Lukas Podolski	Brazil Spain	Portugal

FIFA's Technical Study Group (TSG) also granted a Man of the Match award to one player in each match. Italy's Andrea Pirlo won the most Man of the Match awards, with three in total. Miroslav Klose, Agustin Delgado, Arjen Robben, Zé Roberto, Alexander Frei, Michael Ballack, and Patrick Vieira each received two awards.

All star team

The all star team is a squad consisting of the 23 most impressive players at the 2006 World Cup, as selected by FIFA's Technical Study Group. The team was chosen from a shortlist of over 50 players, and was selected based on performances from the second round onwards.^[21][22]

Scorers

Miroslav Klose received the adidas Golden Shoe award for scoring five goals in the World Cup. This was the lowest number of goals scored by a tournament's top goalscorer since six players tied on four goals each in 1962. In total, 147 goals were scored (four of which were own goals).

Italy Squad

Head coach: Marcello Lippi

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Caps Club 1 GK Gianluigi Buffon 28 January 1978 (aged 28) 60 Juventus 2 DF Cristian Zaccardo 21 December 1981 (aged 24) 12 Palermo 3 DF Fabio Grosso 28 November 1977 (aged 28) 17 Palermo [50] 4 MF Daniele De Rossi 24 July 1983 (aged 22) 17 Roma 5 DF Fabio Cannavaro (c) 13 September 1973 (aged 32) 93 Juventus 6 DF Andrea Barzagli 8 May 1981 (aged 25) 8 Palermo 7 FW Alessandro Del Piero 9 November 1974 (aged 31) 74 Juventus 8 MF Gennaro Gattuso 9 January 1978 (aged 28) 43 Milan 9 FW Luca Toni 26 May 1977 (aged 29) 18 Fiorentina 10 FW Francesco Totti 27 September 1976 (aged 29) 51 Roma 11 FW Alberto Gilardino 5 July 1982 (aged 23) 15 Milan 12 GK Angelo Peruzzi 16 February 1970 (aged 36) 31 Lazio 13 DF Alessandro Nesta 19 March 1976 (aged 30) 74 Milan 14 GK Marco Amelia 2 April 1982 (aged 24) 1 Livorno 15 FW Vincenzo Iaquinta 21 November 1979 (aged 26) 12 Udinese 16 MF Mauro Camoranesi 4 October 1976 (aged 29) 21 Juventus 17 MF Simone Barone 30 April 1978 (aged 28) 13 Palermo 18 FW Filippo Inzaghi 9 August 1973 (aged 32) 49 Milan 19 DF Gianluca Zambrotta 19 February 1977 (aged 29) 52 Juventus 20 MF Simone Perrotta 17 September 1977 (aged 28) 24 Roma 21 MF Andrea Pirlo 19 May 1979 (aged 27) 24 Milan 22 DF Massimo Oddo 14 June 1976 (aged 29) 20 Lazio 23 DF Marco Materazzi 19 August 1973 (aged 32) 28 Internazionale