The 2006 World Cup is now history with Italy winning a fourth time, holding the trophy aloft amid an outpouring of joy inside Berlin's Olympiastadion.

The World Cup saw passion, patriotism and the fiasco of refereeing decisions. In an effort to provide our readers with the entertaining side of the 31 days and 64 games, The Nation's sports reporters have chosen some of the outstanding moments.

1. Time to make "frenemies"?

While Fifa aimed for a friendly competition, it was quite the opposite. Two of the worst moments were the appalling head-butt Zinedine Zidane gave Marco Materazzi and the bad blood between Wayne Rooney and Christiano Ronaldo.

2. Red and yellow

Forget the different colours painted on the faces of fans. Red and yellow were the colours of each day. A record 28 red and 327 yellow cards were handed out by referees. Portugal had the most yellow cards (20) and red cards (2), with Ghana and France each getting 16 yellow.

3. Shame game

The clash between Portugal and Netherlands ended with 12 yellow cards and four red ones from Russian referee Valentin Ivanov. Both sides were down to nine players after 90 minutes of chaos and unsportsman-like behaviour.

4. Best goalkeeper

Italy's Gianluigi Buffon made the most individual saves in the tournament - 27 -and was the best goalkeeper. The Italian also won the coveted Lev Yashin Award and his 459-minute clean sheet put him fifth in the all-time rankings for unbeaten goalkeepers.

5. Hero to zero

Zinedine Zidane set the scene for a sensational end to his long career, but things did not go according to the script. The world was stunned when Zidane head-butted Italy's Marco Materazzi in the chest and was given his marching orders ten minutes from the penalty-shoot-outs.

6. Thai on the line

Although Thailand's team were not part of the World Cup, the country still had Prachya Permpanich on the sidelines. The lone Thai assistant referee, or linesman, was on duty three times - Trinidad v Sweden, Mexico v Angola and Poland v Costa Rica. Also, the Adidas balls used in all 64 matches were made in Thailand.

7. Sexiest player

Internet users voted Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro as the hottest player of the tournament, edging out England captain David Beckham and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, Ukraine's Andriy Shevchenko and Brazil's Kaka.

8. Brazilian bummer

Five-time champions Brazil had a poor tournament. They were defeated by France in the quarter-final without showing the impressive style they are known for.

9. Biggest secret

What did Italy's Materrazzi say to France's Zidane to make him lose control?

10. Best actor: Thierry Henry

Henry led France to wins over Spain and Portugal because he was fouled. Many say he was not fouled, by only acting. "You know me, I don't cheat," Henry said after France's win over Spain.

11. Star didn't shine

Brazilian star Ronaldinho was expected to be the player of the tournament after fantastic performances with his club, Barcelona. But the World Footballer of the Year failed to score.

12. Gamblers lose

Gamblers lost a great deal of money backing the favourites. In Thailand, more than 500 people were arrested for gambling in the first two weeks of the tournament. From June 9 to July 5, 126 bookies and 591 gamblers were arrested for illegal bets worth Bt215 million. A pre-World Cup survey found that an estimated 3.7 million Thais had gambled as much as US$250 million on the matches.

13. Unlucky: Australia

The game with Italy in the round of 16 was one of the best on the international stage for Australia. The unfortunate Socceroos lost to what many say was an unfair penalty on Fabio Grosso eight seconds from the end of the game.