World Cup 2006

While in 1986 Maradona led Argentina to its second World cup tournament, in 1994 Romario played same role for Brazil’s victory. In that year, the South American country obtained its fourth tournament, a landmark achieved by no other country so far.

In spite of a World Cup exhibiting a soccer game below expectations, Romania’s performance was outstanding, as led by Hagi, as well as Bulgaria’s role that got through to the semi-finals.

In the probably best match of the World Cup, Rumanians beat 3-2 Argentina in the round of sixteen, though another surprise in that tournament, Sweden, defeated them by penalty kicks in the following round. The morale of the Argentine team, who started well, was undermined by Maradona’s dismissal for a positive antidoping test in the game against Nigeria, which was the second match of the first round.

Without playing fantastic soccer, the Brazilian team overcame their difficulties, always led by forwarder Romario. They got through to the second round after victories over Cameroon and Russia, and a tie with Sweden. After a tied 1-0 victory against USA, and another favorable 3-2 tie against Netherlands, the semi-finals brought the Swedish to a match against the Brazilians. This time, however, Romario turned things favorable to his national team after a golden goal kicked with his head.

Italy also beat its opponents with non-impressive games. After getting through in a group comprising Mexico, Norway, and Ireland, the Italians set off and disqualified Nigeria, Spain, and Bulgaria. The final encounter against Brazil was hard. After a 0-0 tie in both halves and overtime, during penalty kicks, Roberto Baggio let go his chances to win the fourth World Cup for Italy.