Mike Martin lists the ten words and phrases he hasn't missed hearing since the World Cup finished…

1. Wags

2. Eriksson's about to make a change

3. Our commentators are Mark Bright and…

4. Here's Garth Crooks with the latest from Baden Baden

5. Nice trick from Cristiano Ronaldo… but he gives it away

6. What a waste there fr...

Mike Martin presents the awards FIFA couldn't be bothered with…

'SEXY FOOTBALL' AWARD - MOST ENTERTAINING TEAM: Germany

'NORWAY DIDN'T QUALIFY' AWARD - LEAST ENTERTAINING TEAM: Poland

'UNDER-ACHIEVERS' AWARD - MOST DISAPPOINTING TEAM: England, followed by Czech Republic

'OVER-ACHIEVERS' AWARD - RUBBISH TEAM THAT DID WELL: P...

The game no one wants to play - apparently - ended with further jubilation for the hosts, who managed a 3-1 victory in an open game against a lacklustre Portuguese side.

Luiz Felipe Scolari was dismissive pre-match about the nature of the tie, and appears vindicated. The game serves little purpose, but Fifa can back its worth by brandishing their balance sheet. It also ensures that t...

Less than twenty-four hours after the BBC launched its Goal Of The Tournament competition in Euro 2004, Maniche curled one in from the corner of the penalty area against Holland. Despite this, Mike Martin hopes he is tempting fate in picking his Top 15 three days early.

15. Fernando Torres (SPAIN v Ukraine): A great team move, set up brilliantly by the hungry Puyol, before Torres sm...

France will need to show more quality if they are to overcome a resilient Italy in the World Cup final, says Emmett Williams.

During the group stages, the French team seemed without direction and cohesion and looked certain to have a poor tournament. After literally escaping to the knockout rounds they put in two remarkable performances against Spain and Brazil to reach the semi-fina...

France continued their incredible revival to reach the World Cup final after a narrow win over Portugal, and the golden generation now look to Berlin to repeat their feat of eight years ago. Meanwhile, Portugal's exit is not so hard to stomach.

Although Ricardo can see in player's eyes where they will take a penalty, even he could not stop the master Zinedine Zidane scoring from 12 y...

The German party is brought to a belated end although the celebrations go on. The Italians roll back the years and shake-off their domestic footballing problems to move into the final in a pulsating semi-final tie.

The hype over the 2006 finals being the best ever seemed increasingly exaggerated as the majority of the second round matches and half the last-eight games failed to live ...

There is a lengthy soul-searching in Brazilian football since the national side were dumped out of the World Cup by France in Saturday's Quarter Final.

There can be no doubt that Brazil have some of the finest forwards in the world - even the unfit Adriano and Ronaldo scored five between them - but, when Croatia and France set out to hold Brazil they found the task surprisingly easy....

As the Liver Birds - sorry, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo - engage in mutual frowning, Mike Martin examines and evaluates the various Scapegoats (TM) for England's previous exits…

England's Scapegoats - and did they warrant the title?

WORLD CUP 98: David Beckham

What Happened? - Beckham was sent off just after half time in a Round 2 match with Argent...

Coaching decisions end the World Cup dreams of England and Argentina as ambitions outway the reality.

Though his team finally showed signs of life in the quarterfinals, England coach Sven Goran Eriksson never quite figured out what to make of the players he had. Can Wayne Rooney play as a lone striker or should he have a partner? Does Peter Crouch's presence cause the team to forget ...

There'll be an interesting conversation in a few weeks between Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville and a certain Portuguese winger at Old Trafford. Cristiano Ronaldo has never been a particularly popular player in England, but his rôle in soliciting Wayne Rooney's dismissal, coupled with his winning penalty, could result in him receiving a similar reception to David Beckham after the 199...

Argentina are bad losers - what's new? - as the German nation unites and realises the team 'ain't all that bad' while Italy find the easiest route to the last four in the form of Ukraine.

Why did no one believe in the Germans? The fickle nature of pundits and fans is revealed once again as the nation explodes following progress against Argentina on penalties. Lessons should have been...

France confounded the critics by coming from behind to beat Spain; if Thierry Henry joins Zidane and Vieira in hitting top form, then beating Brazil is possible.

I must confess to feeling more than a little embarrassed by my pre-tournament prediction that France would excel in Germany. Three matches in they had stuttered past Togo and drawn with the only half-decent sides they had fa...

The World Cup needed two great matches to conclude Round 2, after the dross served up by Switzerland and Ukraine on Monday night. Brazil v Ghana was a wonderful display of open, positive football and Spain v France was a rollercoaster of a match, with France's late win almost constituting a shock.

But what appalling hypocrisy from Thierry Henry, less than six weeks after accusing (w...

France played three poor group games - scraping a draw against Switzerland, unable to hold on against South Korea, and struggling for a half a game against a money-driven Togo side - and only managed to finished second. The looked favourites for an early exit, although not as early as in 2002, when up against an impressive Spain whose reserves strike fear into even the best opposition.

Continue reading "Story of the World Cup: 27.06"...

The knockout rounds of the World Cup are featuring just one team from Africa and one team from the CONCACAF region, which is basically North and Latin America.

While this is not totally unexpected, it holds completely different meanings for each region.

With their best teams in the deepest groups, it was not out of the realm of possibility that none of the African teams w...

Graham Poll may have been shrouded in controversy for only a relatively minor error that lasted three minutes, but a lot more should surround Valentin Ivanov for his over-zealous performance led to 16 yellow cards and a record-breaking four dismissals – plus a lot of enjoyment. Despite the excitement Ivanov’s display gave everyone, Sepp Blatter’s criticisms appear vindicated.

The ton...

Few English fans will be glad to see Luís Figo lining up against them in their quarter final with Portugal on Saturday. Figo has been one of Europe's outstanding players over the last decade and has been rejuvinated at Internazionale in the last year after his career waned at Real Madrid.

But now fans across the world who care for the game should be disgusted that Figo can play agai...

Guus Hiddink is defeated by the Italians for once, and that's the reason for his unhappiness - who cares about Australia anyway? He skirts from job to job, and despite his size is one of the best coaches in the business. But after scaring AC Milan with PSV two years running and using South Korea to beat the Italians controverisally, a 90th minute penalty was harshly given to prevent extra time....

What do you when you need a goal to stay in the World Cup? Not, it seems, bring on Ruud van Nistelrooy. Manager Marco van Basten’s decision to both drop the Man Utd striker from the starting line-up and then – more shockingly – bring on the comparatively unproven Vennegoor of Hesselink to seek the equaliser Holland needed was the clearest indication yet Ruud van Nistelrooy’s career is in declin...