Portal:Association football/World Cup/Archive

June

 * Australian defender Tony Vidmar has withdrawn from the country's World Cup squad citing heart trouble
 * Italy national football team players Christian Vieri and Aimo Diana have been ruled out of the World Cup following injuries, according to coach Marcello Lippi
 * Ecuador, Sweden, England name their 23-man squads for the World Cup
 * Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has named his starting line-up for the team's opening World Cup match against Croatia on June 13, 2006
 * United States national coach Bruce Arena has announced a 23-man squad for the World Cup
 * Wayne Rooney will miss England's first match against Paraguay due to a fracture of the base of the fourth metatarsal in his right foot sustained during Manchester United's 3-0 defeat to Chelsea
 * Australian midfielder Tim Cahill has been given a setback after he damaged his knee ligaments in training for Everton Football Club
 * FIFA has agreed not to put restrictions on use of images during 2006 FIFA World Cup by online news publications following a meeting between president Sepp Blatter and the World Association of Newspapers
 * Paraguay goalkeeper Justo Villar is ruled out for the rest of the tournament following an injury sustained in the match against England

March

 * Argentine striker Luciano Figueroa has been ruled out of the tournament in June following a knee injury suffered during River Plate's match in the Clausura against Estudiantes
 * Football's law-making body, the International Football Association Board, has asked referees to be harsher in their decisions on fouls and misconducts during the 2006 FIFA World Cup

October

 * All thirty-two teams (counting the hosts Germany) have secured qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. The first round draw will take place on December 9

September

 * The Football Association have confirmed they are pushing ahead with exploratory talks about England bidding for the 2018 FIFA World Cup - but insist they will not launch a 'dry run' for the 2014 event
 * Croatian media slammed the national soccer team on Thursday for their 'shameful' draw in Malta, made worse by rioting Croatian fans who clashed with local police after the game
 * Michael Owen is desperate to put the pain of England's 1-0 defeat to N. Ireland behind and said: 'I don't want this feeling again.' England need two wins from their home qualifiers against Austria and Poland next month to top World Cup qualifying Group Six, and Owen insists he and his team-mates resolved last night to put right the wrongs of Windsor Park
 * Northern Ireland striker David Healy stunned England at Windsor Park on Wednesday night as the underdogs won the World Cup qualifying match 1-0. England looked disjointed in their 4-5-1 formation and after Healy put the home side ahead in the 74th minute a series of unfathomable substitutions by manager Sven-Göran Eriksson couldn't prevent the Swede from losing his first competitive match in charge of England
 * Italy striker Alessandro Del Piero is out of Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Belarus after picking up a thigh strain
 * Sven-Goran Eriksson is set to hand Michael Owen an immediate recall to the England side for the World Cup qualifier against N. Ireland - with Joe Cole poised to miss out
 * Scotland manager Walter Smith has drafted Scott Severin into his squad for Wednesday's make-or-break World Cup qualifier with Norway
 * Michael Owen answered criticism by Wales coach John Toshack by insisting England can prove their credentials as one of the top six nations - and qualify for the World Cup with a match to spare
 * It took a deflected shot from Joe Cole to give an uninspired England side a 1-0 victory in their World Cup qualifier in Wales - in a game that lacked any of the 'derby match' passion promised in the pre-match hype
 * Brazil striker Ronaldo has singled out England counterpart Wayne Rooney to be the star of next year's World Cup in Germany
 * England captain David Beckham claims any different formation against Wales tomorrow will be down to Sven-Göran Eriksson - not player power - and called for 'a little bit more respect' to be shown to the England manager
 * Goal-line technology will be used in next year's 2006 FIFA World Cup finals if an experiment later this month proves successful, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Thursday
 * Bayern Munich striker Roy Makaay pulled out of the Dutch training camp for this month's World Cup qualifiers with a knee injury on Thursday
 * As Italy prepare to face Scotland in a World Cup qualifier in Glasgow on Saturday, captain Fabio Cannavaro is predicting the Azzurri can go all the way at next year's finals in Germany