MALOUDA: 2006 FIFA W/CUP FINAL EXAMINED

FlorentMalouda was a regular in the France team on the way to the final of the 2006 FIFA World Cup tournament on German soil. Malouda and France were drawn in Group G at the tournament alongside Switzerland, South Korea and Togo.

France were the top seed in their group, but they didn’t have things their way. They didn’t secure a place in the knockout stage until they won their final group game against Togo. France and Switzerland had played out a goalless draw in their first game. In their second Group G outing, Thierry Henry scored for France in the first half, before the advantage was cancelled with ten minutes to go by South Korean attacker Park Ji-Sung as the two teams played out a 1-1 draw.

With two draws from the first two group games, the French team needed to beat African nation Togo in their last group match to seal a round of 16 spot and they did just that with two goals from Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry in the space of six second half minutes. France finished second in their group with five points and behind leaders Switzerland who had seven points.

In their round of 16 clash, France came from behind to beat Spain 3-1 with goals from Franck Ribery, Patrick Vieira and Zinedine Zidane. David Villa was responsible for the Spanish goal. France then ended the reign of Brazil as world champions in the quarterfinals thanks to the goal from Henry. His volleyed strike in the second half gave France a 1-0 win over the Brazilians.

France faced Portugal in the semis and they booked their place in the final via a 1-0 win thanks to the first half penalty from Zidane. The French team booked a final meeting with Italy who stunned hosts Germany 2-0 with two goals in the final moments of extra time.

In the final, FlorentMalouda, Thierry Henry and Franck Ribery started in the France attack. FlorentMalouda made his mark as early as the seventh minute after he was brought down in the box by Marco Materazzi and Zidane produced a panenka penalty to shoot his country into the lead. The France advantage lasted for twelve (12) minutes as Materazzi atoned for his mistake with the Italy equaliser. The two teams failed to add to their tally until the end of regulation time and then extra time, but France finished the game with a man down after Zidane was sent off for a headbutt on Materazzi.

FlorentMaloudawas the only player left on the pitch from the aforementioned attacking France trio after 120 minutes, but he didn’t take a spot kick during penalty shootout. At the end of the shootout, David Trezeguet was the only player to miss after he hit the post for France to give Italy a 5-3 win and the World Cup title.