The Germany 2006 tournament started off brilliantly, descended into boredom and then went out in a flourish, with the Italians as worthy victors. Cannavaro & Gattuso emerged as their players of the tournament, but the whole side did what most others couldn't do - play as a team.
The World Cup favourites Brazil underperformed and went home early along with perrennial under performers Spain, who looked good in the group games.
The pathetically poor England side failed miserably - due mainly to the ineptitude of a certain Sven Goran Eriksson. The players cannot go without their fair share of the burden, but generally they were just doing as they were told by a clueless manager.
We'll remember the free flowing football of Argentina, who thrilled millions with their Group stage games, but could not keep up the tempo when it mattered, and went out in disarray.
Many will remember the antics of Portugal, Holland & France and the refereeing, which at times produced more cards than Clintons.
Germany came out of World Cup 2006 with their heads held high after staging a remarkable month long party, and Klinsmann's team more than made up for their lack of ability with their superb attacking philosophy. The Germany v Italy Semi Final was undoubtably the game of the 2006 Tournament, and will live long in the memory.
Ivory Coast and Ghana showed glimpses of brilliance and attempted to entertain. They have both got the attacking idea right. A bit more work on defence and organisation may make them contenders next time round in Africa.
The Italian team as a whole impressed, along with some notable individual performances at the Fifa World Cup 2006. Cannavaro was the best player on the planet for most of June & a bit of July. By miles.
Zidane, after looking awful early on, produced a couple of majestic displays to drag France to the final almost single handedly. When he got there his head butt left us all regretting his presence.
Riquelme & Ayala were brilliant throughout for Argentina, and the substitute performances of Tevez ensured he'll be a major force in future.
Nedved was the nearest thing to a one man team, along with the Mexican Rafael Marquez who performed a fine leading role from the back.
Forwards were disappointing in general, with fatty Ronaldo finding his feet after an awful opening and Ronaldinho just never turned up. Fernando Torres was probably about the best on offer, although Klose was certainly the most effective.
Fifa World Cup 2006 Germany was purgatory for Football England. See you all in another 4 years, hopefully.
