World Cup Overview

Over the past 2 years, the 205 soccer playing nations of the world have played qualifying matches to determine the 32 participants for the 2006 World Cup Finals to be played in Germany. They were then drawn into 8 groups of 4 listed below. The tournament has two stages. First is the group stage, where each team plays the other three teams in their group, with a win earning 3 points, a draw 1 point, and a loss 0 points. After the 3 sets of group stage matches have been played, the top 2 teams in each group advance to the knockout stage, while the bottom two finishers go home (but not before receiving some lovely parting gifts).

The remaining 16 teams play the single elimination knockout phase until the finalists and then champion is crowned. Think NCAA Tournament brackets - from sweet 16 down to the finals. At this stage a match cannot end in a draw. If tied after regulation there will be 30 minutes of overtime, and if it is still tied then the winner will be determined by penalty kicks.

If you win your group then you will play a runner up of another group (the specific group is predetermined - see below), so for example if you are in the group that will play Brasil in the Round of 16 then you want to win your group to avoid them rather than place 2nd and face them. That is of course if you assume that as the heavy favorites they will have little trouble winning their group (note: France, the 2002 favorite, did not even score a goal, let alone win a match or even advance to the knockout stage).

Anyhow, here are the groups. The matches will be played at venues in 12 different German cities, with the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. The TV Schedule is soon to follow, and in the next two weeks I will post an overview of each group as well.

Group A
Germany
Costa Rica
Poland
Ecuador

Group B
England
Paraguay
Trinidad & Tobago
Sweden

Group C
Argentina
Ivory Coast
Serbia & Montenegro
Holland

Group D
Mexico
Iran
Angola
Portugal

Group E
Italy
Ghana
United States
Czech Republic

Group F
Brasil
Croatia
Australia
Japan

Group G
France
Switzerland
South Korea
Togo

Group H
Spain
Ukraine
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia

Round Of 16
1A - 2B
1B- 2A
1C-2D
1D-2C
1E-2F
1F-2E
1G-2H
1H-2G

Quarterfinals
1A/2B winner - 1C/2D winner (QF1)
1E/2F winner - 1G/2H winner (QF2)
1B-2A winner - 1D/2C winner (QF3)
1F/2E winner - 1H/2G winner (QF4)

Semifinals
QF1 winner - QF2 winner
QF3 winner - QF4 winner

3rd Place Match
SF1 loser - SF2 loser

World Cup Final
SF1 Winner - SF2 winner