To know the value of an inch , ask France who lost the World Cup . The result could have been diffrent had David Trezeguet’s penalty been an inch deeper .

The game was set for Zidane to finish his career on a high by winning his second world cup for France but it turned out to be a shameful episode in his glorious history . Zidane gave France an early lead to France through a well taken penalty but later foolishly got himself sent off for a head butt on Materazzi . But he might have won it for France had his goalbound header in the latter stages hadent been saved acrobatically by Buffon . The game was level in extra time and Italy calmly went on to win 5-3 on penalties .

But Credit should be given to Italy who have been terrific in this tournament whether from Defensive point of view or Offensive . Cannavaro was again instrumental in the win as he cut out various France attacks . Italians played well in the first half and could have taken the lead if Toni’s effort wouldnt have hit the crossbar . In the 2nd half we saw a better of France team with Thierry Henry being the danger man and creating oppurtunities . But Italy hung on during the extra time and went on to win on penalties by scoring all five .

Anyways it was a great final to round off an exciting World Cup but it will be remembered with the incident of Zidane . It was such a sad end to his illustrious career -sent from the World’s Biggest stage in shame and down to retirement .

Golden Boot Winner : Miroslav Klose

Golden Ball Winner : Zinedine Zidane

Wanna watch and download all the goals of the World Cup 2006 .

Check out this site .

The World Cup Round of 16 negins today and from now on there is no room for error . The most notable matches include France Vs Spain and Portugal Vs Holland . Last week we had some surprise and some Bloopers as well . Ghana played some very good footbal and qualified for the next round . Everyone expected France to deliver this time but they played poorly and managed to qualify last night . Spain , who are considered as Underdogs have played some Wonderful football and can be considered as favourites . Italy who have an easy route to the Semifinals now can also be considered as favourites as they have got a very good team spirit among them . Ronaldo who answered his critics by scoring twice against Japan have made the Brazilians look more powerful . There was an incident which will go then in History , when refree Graham Poll booked a player thrice before sending him off .

So lets hope for some best football and some surprises over the next week .

The First Round of matches for all the teams are over and it was really good to see teams like Angola , Ghana , Ivory Coast and lots more performing well on the big stage . It has also been disappointing to see teams who were considered as favourites under perform . First of all lets take a look at England , although they won there match , they didnt show that flair and attack that is needed to be the champions . Even Holland and Portugal didnt show much potential till the final whistle . But we saw some good performances from Italy , Argentina , Czech Republic , Australia , Spain . The best team performance which i saw from a winning team was that of czechs 3-0 win over USA . Now after that win , they could be considered as one of the favourites to reach the last four . The most impressive performance from a first timer was that of Trinidad and Tobago . Despite of playing almost the entire 2nd half with 10 men , they managed to get a draw with Sweden thanks to the wonderful goalkeeping of Shaka hislop . Even the Croatian team played well against the mighty Brazil and could have managed a draw . Now the next round of matches are about to begin and we can expect some more of this Wonderful action and lets hope we do see some surprises . That is the beauty of the beautiful game . According to me the favourites stand as (in order)

1. Spain
2. Brazil
3. Germany
4. Argentina
5. Italy
6. Holland
7. Czech Republic

I have added a ” results page ” which you can refer for the results and the top scorers .

Germany 4 Costa Rica 2

The game was the highest scoring opening match in the World Cup and could well be described as the best opening match ever . Germany produced an attacking display of highest calibre to with goals from Miroslav Klose and stunning strikes from Lahm and Frings helping them overcome a lacklustre Costa Rican side . But the German Fans will be hoping that the team can improve its defensive display as even the Costa Rican team were able to exploit there inexperianced defense .

Except a few Die Hard fans , no one was expecting Germany to be a major force at the World Cup but this display will put a question on everyone’s mind that “Can Germany Do it ” . Looking at there attacking display and the Shots on goal and the amount of possesion they had , they compleated dominated the game but still they conceded 2 goals due to there defensive errors . Now if they can improve there defense , i am really starting to beleive that they have a chance to reach the final .

The World Cup Fever is on as tournament gets near . Being the most prestigious Football tournament , it features some of the best teams and some of the best players in the world .Ok , enough of this Intr …………lets get to the main thing .

In the Past few years i have noticed that football has become more popular in India also thanks to ESPN & Star Sports for showing regular English Premier League and Spanish League actions plus the international matches as well . As we know that the English Premier League is the most prestigious league in the world , and it is very popular in India also , so most of us will be supporting England for the World Cup . I have created this post to discuss ” Which England Players will make the World Cup Squad “

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