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As is typical of sporting champsionships, the 2006 FIFA World Cup created its fair share of polemical situations.

NOTE: Please add to this article and expand, cite references, etc.

Refereeing

Errors

• 3 Yellows, Croatia vs. Australia - In the first round game between Croatia and Australia, referee Graham Poll issued a yellow card to Josip Simunic of Croatia at the 61st minute. At the 90th minute, Poll issued another yellow card to the same player but failed to send him off, as required by rule. Three minutes later, Poll issued a third yellow card along with a red and sent the player off. Neither Poll, his two assistants, nor the fourth official realized that Simunic received two yellow cards until after the match. This created some controversy and discussion because of the potential that it created for annulling the match; had Croatia won the match by scoring a goal with the player still on the field, Australia would have had grounds for an appeal to replay the match. However, the error turned out to be inconsequential as the final score of 2-2 allowed Australia to move on as the 2nd place team from its group. This would not have changed had Australia won the match.

Questioned Calls

• England vs. Paraguay - Peter Crouch repeatedly penalised for fouls, despite video replays showing no foul play.
• Japan vs Australia - Goal awarded to Japan after obstruction with Australian goalkeeper.
• Ghana vs. USA - Penalty awarded to Ghana in injury time of first half. Video replay appears to show no foul on USA player.
• Croatia vs. Australia - On video replay, the player scoring Australia's second goal (Harry Kewell) appears to have been offside. A second deliberate handball by Tomas (Croatia) in the penalty area was not given.
• Tunisia vs. Ukraine - Penalty awarded to Ukraine late in the second half, although the replay appears to show Schevchenko tripping over his own feet.
• Portugal vs. Netherlands - Luis Figo may not have been hit by Dutch player Khalid Boulahrouz, the red card may not have been justified.
• Portugal vs. Netherlands - Luis Figo receives yellow card despite head-butting Mark van Bommel, usually a red card offense.
• Italy vs. Australia - Penalty awarded to Italy with 8 seconds of regulation time remaining even though no contact was made. The FIFA website describes the incident, where Socceroo defender Lucas Neill slid in and got the ball, as "Lucas Neill went down to make the tackle and Grosso tumbled over him."

Unusual Results

• Markus Merk, Australia vs. Brazil - Awarded 25 free kicks to Brazil against 9 for Australia.
• The second round game between Netherlands and Portugal created some controversy due to the record number of bookings given by referee Valentin Ivanov. He gave a total of 16 yellow cards and 4 red cards. On this occasion, the president of FIFA Sepp Blatter publicly criticised his performance.

Player Disputes

• Togo coach resigns and players threaten to strike over pay dispute. (Please expand)

Coaching and Lineups

Politics of Participating Nations

Other

• England vs. Trinidad and Tobago. Peter Crouch pulls Trinidad and Tobago defender Brent Sancho's dreadlocks while scoring first goal.

• 2006 FIFA World Cup