2006 Review: Italy win World Cup as Germany dominates in Winter Games

By John Bagratuni Dec 28, 2006, 12:37 GMT

Hamburg - Italy won the football World Cup and hosted the Winter Olympics with Teutonic efficiency rather than La Dolca Vita.

Germany, by contrast, transformed itself into a land of party people when hosting the World Cup and also complained about the lack of atmosphere when topping the medal table at the Turin Games.

France, and the world for that matter, suffered from Zinedine Zidane's infamous head-butting incident in the World Cup final. There was also dismay around the country's showcase sports event, the Tour de France, which had to swallow the absence of many stars over a doping probe and the possible disqualification of the race winner for steroid use as well.

The cyclist in question, Floyd Landis, was in good company though, as compatriot Justin Gatlin, 100 metres world and Olympic champion, also failed a drug test in the latest doping problems to hit the United States.

Another low was the massive football scandal in Italy which overshadowed its World Cup win, with Juventus Turin relegated and stripped of the past two league titles and other clubs such as AC Milan also punished over the match-fixing scheme.

The verdict was handed down five days after captain Fabio Cannavaro - who then swiftly left Juve for Real Madrid - lifted the World Cup trophy into the Berlin skies for Italy's fourth triumph.

Italy beat France on penalties after the sides were still deadlocked at 1-1 from 120 minutes of play, which only underlined their ruthless efficiency throughout the tournament.

Top favourites Brazil flopped as they went out to France in the quarter-finals, with fancied Argentina also crashing in that round against a German team which has never lost a shoot-out in World Cup history.

Germany, long seen as the masters of efficiency rather than skill on the pitch, surprised with probably the best football of all 32 finalists to finish third - with a place in the final denied by two Italy goals in the dying seconds of extra time.

Juergen Klinsmann's team was boosted by a nation which took full advantage of the unusually warm summer weather to improve its image at the June 9-July 9 tournament with one giant street party, or, as French weekly L'Express put it - a 'Woodstock of sport.'

Things weren't always as peaceful on the pitch, the low point being Zidane's red card in his final career match after being provoked by Marco Materazzi.

But there were also 12 yellow cards and four players sent off in the ugly round-of-16 game between the eventual fourth-place finishers Portugal and the disappointing Netherlands.

The English team also made no real impact, with Wayne Rooney red-carded in the quarter-final defeat against Portugal, David Beckham's days as captain (and possibly as England player) also ending in that match.

English clubs made the European club finals, but Arsenal lost the Champions League decider 2-1 against Spanish champions Barcelona and Middlesbrough were hammered 4-0 by another Spanish side, Sevilla, in the UEFA Cup.

Turin, meanwhile, was the host city of the Winter Olympics, but the majority of events actually took place some two hours north in the Alps - with many seats empty there and the atmosphere far from the Games' motto 'Passion Lives Here.'

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge described the Games as 'truly magnificent,' but Turin may in fact be remembered mainly for the fabulous ceremonies, a large number of spectacular crashes and failures plus the first ever police raids on athletes over doping suspicion about Austrian athletes.

The latter affair was sparked by the presence of an Austrian coach who was under an Olympic ban - which put a damper on Austria's amazing success helped by the likes of double alpine ski champions Michaela Dorfmeister and Benjamin Raich.

Germany led the final medal table once again with 11 gold, 12 silver and six bronze ahead of the US (9-9-7) and the Austrians (9-7-7), helped by strong showings in biathlon, bob and luge - none of them real glamour sports at the Games.

In the showcase events, Frenchman Antoine Deneriaz surprised with gold in the men's downhill and so did Japan's Shizuka Arakawa in women's figure skating. But the men's event at least saw the predictable winner in Russian Evgeny Plushenko.

South Korean short track skater Ahn Hyun-Soo became the most successful athlete of the Games with three golds and one silver. Canadian speedskater Cindy Klassen got the most medals, five: one gold, two silvers and two bronze.

Flops included Norwegian stars Marit Bjoergen (cross-country ski), compatriot Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (biathlon), Finland's Hannu Manninen (Nordic combined) and American Bode Miller (Alpine skiing).

There was even more dismay for the US when Landis was revealed to have submitted a positive doping test after heroically winning the 17th stage of the Tour de France en route to his overall title - which is now in jeopardy.

Landis won after the expected stars - 1997 winner Jan Ullrich of Germany and Italian Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso - were suspended on the eve of the Tour for alleged involvement in a Spanish doping scheme unveiled by Spanish police around doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.

Doping also overshadowed athletics, with Gatlin submitting a positive test and subsequently agreeing to co-operate with anti-doping authorities and to be stripped of his co-ownership of the 100m world record (achieved after the test) in order to avoid a life ban.

The sole owner of the record is now Jamaican Asafa Powell, who in summer twice equalled his 2005 mark of 9.77 seconds.

If that wasn't enough for the US in 2006, their Ryder Cup team was also comprehensively beaten by Europe in golf's most prestigious team event, which was held in Ireland for the first time.

In US sport, the Miami Heat roared from 3-1 down to beat the Dallas Mavericks 4-3 in the NBA Finals, the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Superbowl, the St Louis Cardinals the World Series and the Carolina Hurricanes the Stanley Cup.

Swiss Roger Federer continued to dominate men's tennis with three more Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon, the US and Australian Open, but was denied a Grand Slam by losing the French Open final to Rafael Nadal. France's Amelie Mauresmo won the women's Australian Open and Wimbledon.

Fernando Alonso got a second straight Formula One title in a thrilling duel with Michael Schumacher, who bid farewell at the end of the season as the sport's most successful driver with a seven world titles and 91 race wins.

Germans will likely have a lesser F1 interest now in 2007, which has among other sports highlights world championships in athletics (Osaka), swimming (Melbourne), alpine (Are, Sweden) and Nordic skiing (Sapporo).

New Zealand will be strong favourites to win the Rugby World Cup in France while the Cricket World Cup takes place in the West Indies.

Football highlights include the women's World Cup in China and the Copa America in Venezuela.