World Cup VII

World Cup VII

Tournament details
Host	China
Season(s)	Seasons 26-27 10 June 2005 - 1 Jan. 2006
Teams	96
Final positions
Champions	Sverige
Runner-up	España
Semi-finalists	Polska Latvija
Tournament statistics
Matches played	567
Goals scored	Dawid Nowak 9 goals
← WC VI	WC VIII →

The Seventh World Cup tournament took place from 10 June 2005 to 1 January 2006.

96 national teams played a total of 480 matches in the 16 groups of qualification in order to define the 32 participants to the final stage held in China. The host nation was one of them, but was eliminated in the second round.

In the final, Sverige defeated España 3–1 to win the tournament and secure the country's sixth world title. Even if Polska was elominated one step before final, his player Dawid Nowak manage to became top scorer with 9 goals.

The tournament is remebered also for the Sverige - Latvija semi-final controversy. The match between Swedish and Latvian national teams raised rather intense conference discussions about it. The Swedish national team, trailing late in the game 1 - 2, got the lucky equaliser goal in the 90th minute and later went on to win in extra time. Almost immediately after the end of regular match time, many conference users started reporting that this match had been reported to them somewhat strangely - the other semifinal had already ended, while the Swedish - Latvian one still went on, and after about half a minute, a Swedish equalizer was announced, sending the match into extra time. This led to "conspiracy theories" about HT-Team manually altering the match and its outcome to prevent Sweden from being eliminated from tournament. However, the accusations of any unfair actions taken to affect the usual match simulation were immediately denied by HT officials, and, to clarify what exactly happened at the match, an announcement was made.

Group Stage

Round I (Qualification)

This round started on 10/06/2005 at 20:00.

Group	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Group 6
Group 7
Group 8
Group 9
Group 10
Group 11
Group 12
Group 13
Group 14
Group 15
Group 16

Round II

This round started on 04/11/2005 at 20:00 and was played in China.

Group 1 Team Pts GD Singapore 7 +2 Österreich 4 ±0 Indonesia 3 -1 China 2 -1

Group 2 Team Pts GD España 9 +10 México 6 +3 Italia 3 -2 Prathet Thai 0 -11

Group 3 Team Pts GD Türkiye 7 +7 Suomi 7 +5 Magyarország 3 -1 Chile 0 -11

Group 4 Team Pts GD Sverige 9 +3 Norge 3 +1 Eesti 3 -1 Ireland 3 -3

Group 5 Team Pts GD Polska 9 +5 Oceania 4 +2 Schweiz 2 -1 Deutschland 1 -6

Group 6 Team Pts GD USA 6 +1 Argentina 4 +1 Slovenija 4 -1 Malaysia 3 -1

Group 7 Team Pts GD Belgium 6 +4 France 6 +4 Canada 6 ±0 Hellas 0 -8

Group 8 Team Pts GD England 9 +5 Latvija 4 +1 Nederland 4 -1 Danmark 0 -5

Round III

This round starts on 09/12/2005 at 20:00 and was played in China.

Group 1 Team Pts GD España 9 +5 USA 3 ±0 Norge 3 -2 Suomi 3 -3

Group 2 Team Pts GD England 7 +5 Belgium 6 +2 France 3 -5 Österreich 1 -2

Group 3 Team Pts GD Polska 9 +6 Latvija 6 +2 México 3 -1 Singapore 0 -7

Group 4 Team Pts GD Sverige 7 +3 Türkiye 4 ±0 Argentina 4 ±0 Oceania 1 -3

Round IV

This round started on 19/12/2005 at 20:00 and was played in China.

Group 1 Team Pts GD Sverige 6 +3 Polska 6 +2 Belgium 6 ±0 USA 0 -5

Group 2 Team Pts GD España 6 +3 Latvija 6 ±0 England 4 ±0 Türkiye 1 -3

Knockout Stage

Semi-Finals

This round started on 30/12/2005 at 20:00 and was played in China.

ID		Match Result
(59054029)	Sverige	3 - 2 aet	Latvija
(59054030)	Polska	4 - 5 aet	España

Final

This round started on 01/01/2006 at 20:00 and was played in China.

ID		Match Result
(59461686)	Sverige	3 - 1	España

Tactics and Ratings

Sverige: 3-4-3 AIM (outstanding) Midfield: utopian (low) Right Defence: mythical (very low) Central Defence: divine (low) Left Defence: brilliant (low) Right Attack: solid (very high) Central Attack: divine (very high) Left Attack: excellent (very high) Indirect Set Pieces: Attack: N/A Defence: N/A

España: 3-5-2 Play creatively Midfield: divine (very high) Right Defence: extra-terrestrial (very high) Central Defence: outstanding (very high) Left Defence: excellent (low) Right Attack: passable (low) Central Attack: supernatural (low) Left Attack: passable (low) Indirect Set Pieces: Attack: N/A Defence: N/A

HT Announcements

Hattrick announces

World Cup match bug

25/11/2005

Thanks to observant users, we have found a bug regarding the hosting nations in the World Cup. When a hosting nation was drawn as a "away team", the hosting nation got the home-advantage. However, the bug also gave home-advantage to the formal home-team, meaning that both teams got the boost from having a fanatic home crowd. We have now spoken to the future home crowds and made sure that they will only cheer for the hosting nation. This bug has unfortunately affected both the regular World cup and the U20 World Cup since the dawn of time.

Hattrick announces

Hattrick World Cup VII	07/12/2005
Friday 20:00 the third stage of Hattrick World Cup VII kicks off in China. Only 16 of our strongest sides remain in the competition for the Gold. Speculations are intense in the conferences and among favourites mentioned are for instance Spain, Sweden and Poland. The days when Sweden dominated the game are however long gone and many teams want a piece of the action.

Hattrick announces

World Cup semifinals

28/12/2005

The Hattrick World Cup has now reached the semifinals. In the first match Sweden takes on the sensation of the tournament - Latvia, who thanks to some really shrewd coaching has managed to overthrow several teams which were considered big favourites. In the other match the giants España and Polska will face eachother in an extremely hard battle. Make sure to follow the battle for the final from 20:00 HT time on the 30th!

Hattrick announces

When exactly does a match end?

31/12/2005

The recent World Cup semi-final between Sweden and Latvia has given rise to questions about when exactly a match ends. The answer is that it ends within one minute after 90 minutes have been played. The exact second depends on what happens on the field. Usually, if the last minute is uneventful, the referee stops the match around 5 seconds after 90 minutes mark. However, if there are a lot of things happening, it is in fact quite common that there are events as late as 30 or even 40 seconds later. In the semifinal between Sweden and Latvia, the Swedish equalizer happened after 90:39. This is unusually late, but not exceptionally - it happens many times every week, just not normally in such important matches followed by thousands of users. Also: Whilst we fully understand the disappointment with the result among Latvian fans (and others rooting for Latvia), please remember to keep your head cool and to always treat your fellow Hattrick players with respect, even after a defeat.

Hattrick announces

Sweden World Champions

02/01/2006

Congratulations to Sweden for winning World Cup VII. Runners-up Spain, and several other countries however showed that they have now closed the gap and it will be very difficult for the champions to defend their title once again in two seasons' time. Today also marks the start of the elections in each league. We must also remind users that it is not allowed to spam people's mailboxes in order to gain votes.