World Cup IV

This was the fourth and final cup in which the qualification was not group-based. This system allowed the cup to be held over the span of one season, instead of two. The Qualification rounds were based on the top 40 teams in the rankings table. Of those teams, the top eight in rankings qualified directly. The remaining thirty-two teams played for the final eight spots in the cup.

In the pre-qualification round the biggest surprises were when #40 Malaysia flattened #9 España 6-1 and #36 South Africa held an early lead to beat #13 Oceania 1-0. Other memorable moments were #15 México's 2-1 win in a penalty shoot out that saw 10 missed penalties before the 6th shot taker for México finally put home the goal, and when #20 Magyarország scored two consecutive goals in the 81st and 87th minutes to win 4-3 over #29 Česká republika.

In the qualification round México won yet again in penalties. This time the 3rd shooter for México put home the 2-1 goal to win over #33 Indonesia. Also #23 France held off a 2nd half comeback by Magyarország to win 2-1.

In Round II only thing separating #3 seed Scotland and #1 seed England was their mutual match, where Scotland was better by 1-0. Winner of Group 3 was #4 seed Danmark sending both England and #2 seed Nederland home early.

Semi-finals saw a thriller when Norge beat România 2-1 with a 92nd minute goal. Sverige won their semi 2-0 as expected putting the nail into Danmark's coffin just after halftime. This set up the grounds for one of the most exciting matches in World Cup history. In the final Norge used two Offensive Central Defenders to boost their midfield. They won the midfield and thus took the gold home. So far this is the only World Cup that Sverige didn't win.

Direct Qualification

• Template:SWEnf
• Template:CANnf
• Template:ENGnf
• Template:ROUnf
• Template:USAnf
• Template:NEDnf
• Template:GERnf
• Template:FINnf

Pre-Qualification

This round started on 2004-01-16 20:00:00 and was played in USA.

ID		Match Result
(13677190)	Template:ESPnf	1 - 6	Template:MASnf
(13677191)	Template:NORnf	3 - 1	Template:SUInf
(13677192)	Template:POLnf	1 - 0	Template:ISRnf
(13677193)	Template:ITAnf	0 - 1	Template:TURnf
(13677194)	Template:OCEnf	0 - 1	Template:RSAnf
(13677195)	Template:DENnf	3 - 1	Template:LVAnf
(13677196)	Template:MEXnf	2 - 1	Template:CROnf
(13677198)	Template:BELnf	0 - 1	Template:IDNnf
(13677199)	Template:AUTnf	3 - 0	Template:VENnf
(13677200)	Template:SCOnf	3 - 0	Template:GREnf
(13677201)	Template:PORnf	0 - 2	Template:IRLnf
(13677202)	Template:HUNnf	4 - 3	Template:CZEnf
(13677203)	Template:BRAnf	2 - 0	Template:ARGnf
(13677204)	Template:RUSnf	3 - 1	Template:SCGnf
(13677205)	Template:FRAnf	2 - 0	Template:INDnf
(13677206)	Template:CHNnf	3 - 2	Template:CHInf

Qualification

This round started on 2004-01-23 20:00:00 and was played in USA.

ID		Match Result
(13743435)	Template:NORnf	3 - 0	Template:MASnf
(13743436)	Template:POLnf	2 - 1	Template:TURnf
(13743437)	Template:DENnf	1 - 0	Template:RSAnf
(13743438)	Template:MEXnf	2 - 1	Template:IDNnf
(13743439)	Template:AUTnf	4 - 0	Template:IRLnf
(13743440)	Template:SCOnf	2 - 0	Template:CHNnf
(13743441)	Template:HUNnf	1 - 2	Template:FRAnf
(13743442)	Template:BRAnf	3 - 0	Template:RUSnf

Round II

This round started on 2004-01-30 20:00:00 and was played in USA.

Group 1

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Template:SWEnf	7	3	2	1	0	9	2	+7
Template:NORnf	5	3	1	2	0	11	4	+7
Template:FINnf	4	3	1	1	1	4	4	±0
Template:FRAnf	0	3	0	0	3	0	14	-14

ID		Match Result		Date and Time
(13812846)	Template:SWEnf	2 - 2	Template:NORnf	30-01-2004 at 20.00
(13812847)	Template:FINnf	2 - 0	Template:FRAnf	30-01-2004 at 20.00
(13812848)	Template:SWEnf	5 - 0	Template:FRAnf	06-02-2004 at 20.00
(13812849)	Template:FINnf	2 - 2	Template:NORnf	06-02-2004 at 20.00
(13812850)	Template:SWEnf	2 - 0	Template:FINnf	13-02-2004 at 20.00
(13812851)	Template:NORnf	7 - 0	Template:FRAnf	13-02-2004 at 20.00

Group 2

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Template:CANnf	9	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4
Template:GERnf	6	3	2	0	1	5	4	+1
Template:POLnf	1	3	0	1	2	1	4	-3
Template:BRAnf	1	3	0	1	2	3	5	-2

ID		Match Result		Date and Time
(13812852)	Template:CANnf	2 - 0	Template:POLnf	30-01-2004 at 20.00
(13812853)	Template:GERnf	3 - 2	Template:BRAnf	30-01-2004 at 20.00
(13812854)	Template:CANnf	1 - 0	Template:BRAnf	06-02-2004 at 20.00
(13812855)	Template:GERnf	1 - 0	Template:POLnf	06-02-2004 at 20.00
(13812856)	Template:CANnf	2 - 1	Template:GERnf	13-02-2004 at 20.00
(13812857)	Template:POLnf	1 - 1	Template:BRAnf	13-02-2004 at 20.00

Group 3

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Template:DENnf	6	3	2	0	1	5	2	+3
Template:SCOnf	4	3	1	1	1	3	3	±0
Template:ENGnf	4	3	1	1	1	3	3	±0
Template:NEDnf	2	3	0	2	1	3	6	-3

ID		Match Result		Date and Time
(13812858)	Template:ENGnf	2 - 1	Template:DENnf	30-01-2004 at 20.00
(13812859)	Template:NEDnf	2 - 2	Template:SCOnf	30-01-2004 at 20.00
(13812860)	Template:ENGnf	0 - 1	Template:SCOnf	06-02-2004 at 20.00
(13812861)	Template:NEDnf	0 - 3	Template:DENnf	06-02-2004 at 20.00
(13812862)	Template:ENGnf	1 - 1	Template:NEDnf	13-02-2004 at 20.00
(13812863)	Template:DENnf	1 - 0	Template:SCOnf	13-02-2004 at 20.00

Group 4

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Template:ROUnf	9	3	3	0	0	6	2	+4
Template:USAnf	4	3	1	1	1	3	2	+1
Template:AUTnf	3	3	1	0	2	3	6	-3
Template:MEXnf	1	3	0	1	2	0	2	-2

ID		Match Result		Date and Time
(13812864)	Template:ROUnf	1 - 0	Template:MEXnf	30-01-2004 at 20.00
(13812865)	Template:USAnf	3 - 0	Template:AUTnf	30-01-2004 at 20.00
(13812866)	Template:ROUnf	3 - 2	Template:AUTnf	06-02-2004 at 20.00
(13812867)	Template:USAnf	0 - 0	Template:MEXnf	06-02-2004 at 20.00
(13812868)	Template:ROUnf	2 - 0	Template:USAnf	13-02-2004 at 20.00
(13812869)	Template:MEXnf	0 - 1	Template:AUTnf	13-02-2004 at 20.00

Round III

This round started on 2004-02-16 20:00:00 and was played in USA.

Group 1

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Template:ROUnf	9	3	3	0	0	10	2	+8
Template:DENnf	3	3	1	0	2	9	6	+3
Template:GERnf	3	3	1	0	2	3	7	-4
Template:SCOnf	3	3	1	0	2	3	10	-7

ID		Match Result		Date and Time
(14022721)	Template:ROUnf	4 - 0	Template:GERnf	16-02-2004 at 20.00
(14022723)	Template:DENnf	6 - 1	Template:SCOnf	16-02-2004 at 20.00
(14022724)	Template:ROUnf	3 - 0	Template:SCOnf	20-02-2004 at 20.00
(14022725)	Template:DENnf	1 - 2	Template:GERnf	20-02-2004 at 20.00
(14022726)	Template:ROUnf	6 - 2	Template:DENnf	23-02-2004 at 20.00
(14022727)	Template:GERnf	1 - 2	Template:SCOnf	23-02-2004 at 20.00

Group 2

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Template:SWEnf	7	3	2	1	0	6	1	+5
Template:NORnf	5	3	1	2	0	6	3	+3
Template:CANnf	4	3	1	1	1	4	6	-2
Template:USAnf	0	3	0	0	3	1	7	-6

ID		Match Result		Date and Time
(14022728)	Template:CANnf	2 - 2	Template:NORnf	16-02-2004 at 20.00
(14022729)	Template:SWEnf	2 - 0	Template:USAnf	16-02-2004 at 20.00
(14022730)	Template:CANnf	1 - 0	Template:USAnf	20-02-2004 at 20.00
(14022731)	Template:SWEnf	0 - 0	Template:NORnf	20-02-2004 at 20.00
(14022732)	Template:CANnf	1 - 4	Template:SWEnf	23-02-2004 at 20.00
(14022733)	Template:NORnf	4 - 1	Template:USAnf	23-02-2004 at 20.00

Semi-Finals

This round started on 2004-02-27 20:00:00 and was played in USA.

ID		Match Result
(14140868)	Template:ROUnf	1 - 2	Template:NORnf
(14140869)	Template:DENnf	0 - 2	Template:SWEnf

Final

This round started on 2004-02-29 20:00:00 and was played in USA.

ID		Match Result
(14287675)	Template:SWEnf	2 - 4	Template:NORnf

Tactics and Ratings

Sverige: 3-5-2 Normal Midfield: magical (very low) Right Defence: outstanding (very low) Central Defence: titanic (very high) Left Defence: extra-terrestrial (very high) Right Attack: extra-terrestrial (low) Central Attack: magnificent (low) Left Attack: solid (low) Indirect Set Pieces: Attack: {{{isp_attack}}} Defence: {{{isp_defence}}}

Norge: 3-5-2 Normal Midfield: divine (very high) Right Defence: passable (very low) Central Defence: inadequate (very high) Left Defence: inadequate (very high) Right Attack: supernatural (very low) Central Attack: outstanding (very high) Left Attack: passable (very high) Indirect Set Pieces: Attack: {{{isp_attack}}} Defence: {{{isp_defence}}}