FIFA World Cup Myth Busters: Brazil-Ghana 2006

Throughout football history there has always been controversy.

However, thanks to modern technology almost any novice football fan can easily acquire relatively low tech means of identifying fact from fiction.

Today we shall put to rest once and for the charges made by Ghanaian fans who claim to have suffered injustice at the hands of mighty Brazil in the 2006 World Cup.

Brazil Scores Their First Goal En Route to Destroying Ghana

The picture may not be the best quality and for that I apologize. It is however clear enough to make out some very obvious characteristics.

Kaka's perfectly timed pass obviously split the Ghana defense and destroyed their paltry attempt at an offside trap.

In the lower left hand corner a defender clearly puts Ronaldo onside especially when we consider that the ball has long been played.

Ronaldo goes on to dribble past the keeper and score a record-breaking 15th World Cup goal chucking off a defender's foul in doing so.

1-NIL Brazil.

Goal No. 2 in This Brazil Victory

This was the most controversial moment of the match.

Lucio plays a ball out to the wing for Cafu. Adriano clearly turns his back on the play and isn't involved. The referee rightly allows play to continue as the players on the wing are involved.

Controversy arises moments later when Adriano then becomes involved in another play near the area which originated from this run.

The referee and linesman see this as another play altogether and allow the subsequent goal. This is up to interpretation and could have gone either way. However, it's unfair to claim foul play as the referee was within the rules to simply adjudge the subsequent goal as a totally separate play.

Once in an offside position does not mean that a player will remain offside for the rest of the match.

Others may argue that the two plays were related and therefore the original offside should have been called.

In any event, the referee was well within his rights and the rules in opting for the former argument.

Goal No. 2: Part Two of This Controversy

Part two of the goal No. 2 controversy is shown in this picture.

Adriano returns to get involved in another play near the goal mouth and, as the picture shows, perfectly times his run.

One must bear in mind the ball has long been played by Cafu. The defender is wrong-footed and Adriano is sprinting into range but even so he's onside by precise football standards.

Goal No. 3: The Final Nail in the Coffin

This is Brazil's third and decisive goal.

Insisting on their ridiculous offside trap once again Ghana is caught out in grand style by the skillful Brazilians.

Ze Roberto is played through with a perfect pass as shown in the picture (ball has already left foot). The defender in the lower right hand corner puts Ze onside with a lot of space to work with.

Once again, there's nothing to grumble about here.

Ze chips the goalie and apparently toys with the idea of a backheel goal for an instant before slotting it in out of respect for the sad Ghana team.

The Amoah Dive

In this picture we can make out Ghana forward Amoah in full flight in his attempt to trick the referee.

Note that the Brazilian defender makes no contact with him and is actually some distance behind.

Amoah picks up his fourth booking in three matches and is sent off as this is the second yellow card of the match. The first was for kicking the ball away in anger.

Clearly the lad has some disciplinary issues.

After Brazil's first goal Adriano was also booked for diving which goes a long way to proving that the referee was indeed coherent in his decisions.

So that's it folks. Myth busted...stop grumbling Ghana.

Brazil was superior on the day and exploited a very weak offside trap, which never functioned during the match.