The Fan

World Cup losers

The Editor — Mon, July 10th 2006

A tournament to forget for some...

The World Cup finals can make and break reputations. Who has come off worst this time around.

Zinedine Zidane

Despite a couple of excellent performances, his tournament will be remembered not for his ability or for the great achievement of becoming the 4th player to score in more than one World Cup final, but for that head butt. Not a way to end your career on a high.

Manchester United

Out of favour Van Nistelrooy turned into a bench warmer for country as well as club. Rooney and Ronaldo fall out. Rooney falls out with Ferguson. Sir Alex might have quite a job forming an attacking partnership this season.

Sven Goran Eriksson

Derided for his squad selection (too few strikers), for his team selection, his substitutions, his half time team talks, and for wasting England’s best chance for decades. Did not seem to get much right.

Portugal

Finishing fourth for Portugal should have been a finish to celebrate. Instead, they were regarded as cheats, happy to dish out fouls, but falling at the slightest brush of an opponent.

Graham Poll

The first referee to issue 3 yellow cards, he retired from international refereeing as soon as he got home.

 

Listed in: Competitions, World Cup, Teams, Man Utd

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