World Cup 2006

It was the lowest level World Cup of the 16 tournaments played. Italy prepared the feast at home to celebrate the third tournament, but it saw its dream vanish before the Argentina of Caniggia in semi-finals. German soccer resulted the strongest and the country entered in the distinguished club of third World Cup champions, together with Brazil and Italy.

Argentinians had Maradona’s talent and goalkeeper Goycochea, an expert in the art of intercepting penalty kicks. Once they got rid of Brazil, they encountered two successive penalty kick matches before accessing the final. Ironically, a penalty kick sealed Argentina’s 1-0 defeat by the Germans.

If top teams played badly, small teams exceeded all expectations. Thanks to forwarder Roger Milla’s irrespect, Cameroon got through to the quarter finals and it almost beat England. The match between Egypt and Netherlands ended in a 1-1 tie in the first round. Egypt, however, was unable to advance. Colombia qualified for the second round after a thrilling 1-1 tie with Germany.

Three European and one South American teams got to the semi-finals. During penalty kicks, Germany removed England from its path with a 1-1 tie after 120 minutes. In the other semi-final, in Naples, Maradona, the idol of Naples’ fans, commanded the Argentine team and cursed the audience who jeered at his country’s national anthem. The penalty kick that gave Germany the victory is still today questioned by Argentinians.