BBC SPORT | Football | World Cup 2006 | Zidane is fired as Italy wins the World Cup After a thrilling 1-1 draw in Berlin, Italy defeated France 5-3 on penalties to win the World Cup. After France's David Trezeguet missed, Fabio Grosso scored the game-winning penalty.
The winning goal was scored by Alessandro Del Piero in the 91st minute of the match. It was his second goal of the tournament and an unforgettable one for all Italians. The striker had an excellent tournament and was voted player of the year at the end of it. He is now considered one of the best players in the history of the Azzurri team.
Del Piero played for Juventus before moving to Internazionale where he continued to be an important figure during both his seasons with the club. In July 2008 he returned to his first club Juventus for a trial period and eventually signed a contract until June 2012.
Since his retirement from football, Del Piero has worked as a coach with the youth teams of his former club Inter. He has been involved in the development of several young players and has helped them gain experience by giving advice to coaches when not training with the team.
Del Piero is expected to continue as a key member of the coaching staff under new manager Roberto Mancini this season.
The Italian national football team won the FIFA World Cup in 2006. A late goal from Alessandro Del Piero gave Italy a 1-0 victory over France at Stade de France in Paris. This was Italy's first world cup win.
Italy became the first country to defend their title successfully, and also the first European team to do so. They were crowned champions for a second time after a 2-1 win against France at the Stade de France. This was their third world cup victory and their second title following their fourth place finish four years earlier. The Italians had been 1-3 down after the first half but came back in the game thanks to some brilliant play by Zidane. However, he too was sent off after picking up his fifth yellow card of the tournament. This meant that he would miss the final match against France. Although he did not appear to be fit enough to play, Italy still managed to win the match and claim their second consecutive world cup.
Del Piero scored the only goal of the game with just over ten minutes remaining on the clock. It was an absolutely stunning strike which came from nowhere and took everyone by surprise.
The 1938 FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams, was contested in France from June 4–19, 1938. In the 1938 FIFA World Cup final, Italy defended its championship by defeating Hungary 4-2.
| Coupe du Monde 1938 | |
|---|---|
| Top scorer(s) | Leônidas (7 goals) |
| ← 1934 1950 → | |
After Ferenc Puskas, Zoltan Czibor, Gerd Muller, and Zinedine Zidane, Mandzukic became the sixth player to score in both the World Cup and the European Cup/Champions League finals. France 4, Croatia 2 is the final score. France 4, Croatia 2 at the end of the second half.
Mandzukic scored once in the first half and added another goal in the 62nd minute to give Croatia a comfortable lead. The game was already over after his first goal.
He came on as a substitute for Mario Gotze in the 58th minute of the match. It was his first appearance in the tournament. Germany lost 1-3 to Brazil in its opening match.
Croatia was one of four remaining European teams in the World Cup quarterfinals. Italy and Spain were the other two sides going head-to-head in the last quarterfinal spot. Germany and Brazil had already finished their matches.
Croatia was drawn into the same group as Germany and England for the semifinals. The four teams will be ranked by points obtained from all their previous matches. If a tiebreaker rule is needed, goals scored during the group stage will be decisive.
Germany was undefeated up until that point and was considered a strong favorite to win the cup. But Croatia played excellent football and was not counted out even though it was Germany that had never won the cup before.
Germany's Miroslav Klose However, the modest Lazio striker will remember his 2006 Golden Boot, which he earned in a home tournament, as a high point in his career, despite the fact that he followed up his five goals in Germany with four more in South Africa in 2010. The Czech player was on target twice more in Brazil four years later but failed to match his best season's output.
Klose's achievements in front of his own fans at the World Cup have made him one of the most popular players in Germany. He has 80 million Facebook followers and his picture is often used by newspapers to mark important events such as Bundesliga matches or German elections.
The striker has also been praised for his role model behavior since breaking into professional football at age 19. He attends school every day and lives with his family in a small town near Rome where they built a house before moving to Lazio.
Klose's father, Jozef, was an international soccer player himself and played alongside many great players including Franz Beckenbauer, Berti Vogts, and Raimund Voolka. His mother, Milena, was a volleyball player who competed at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
Milan Baros scored two goals in the second half to lead Switzerland to a 2-1 victory over Germany in their opening game at the 2006 World Cup on June 16th.
Brehme, Andreas Watch highlights of West Germany's 1-0 victory against Argentina in the 1990 World Cup final at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Andreas Brehme coolly slotted home from the penalty spot five minutes before full time to score the game's lone goal.
The match was going into extra time when Argentinian defender Daniel Passarella was sent off for handling the ball outside his area. Germany were awarded a free kick just inside the Argentine half on the left side of the pitch. Jürgen Klinsmann stepped up and hit a low shot which hit the wall and bounced back into play. After several attempts, the ball fell to Andreas Brehme who calmly placed it into the bottom right corner of the net to give Germany their first World Cup title.
Brehme had been brought into the team just three days before the final after Bernd Schneider was unable to play due to injury. The 35-year-old striker had never scored in international competition but he did so here with a perfectly placed penalty.
After the final, Brehme announced that he would retire at the end of the season. He stayed in Italy after the tournament ended and returned to Lazio where he played one more season before retiring in 1993. After his playing career, Brehme became a coach and managed several clubs including Lazio, Bayern Munich, and Austria national team from 1996 to 2000.
Copyright © 2020 - 2023 Sportsmanist Inc.
