Continuing our look back at West Ham United’s presence at previous FIFA World Cups, the 2006 finals in Germany had plenty of former and future Hammers in action...
West Ham United were represented by just one player at the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany – Trinidad and Tobago goalkeeper Shaka Hislop.
The 37-year-old had suffered the disappointment of losing a dramatic FA Cup final on penalties to Liverpool just days before joining up with his international teammates for their first-ever World Cup tournament.
The veteran stopper produced three superb displays as the Caribbean nation conceded just four goals in their three Group B ties, drawing with Sweden in their historic opening match in Dortmund before losing 0-2 to England in Nuremburg and Paraguay in Kaiserslautern.
Sticking in Group B, former West Ham players Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole started England’s opening 1-0 win over Paraguay alongside one-time Academy youngster John Terry, while future Iron Stewart Downing was introduced as a second-half substitute. Exactly the same happened for the 2-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago. Cole then scored a sensational opening goal in a 2-2 draw against Sweden in Cologne, where Ferdinand, Lampard and Terry also started, as did former West Ham loanee Niclas Alexandersson at right-back for the Scandinavians.
In the round of 16, Cole, Ferdinand, Lampard and Terry all started, as did former West Ham midfielder Michael Carrick, while Downing was again introduced as a substitute as Eriksson’s side edged past Ecuador 1-0. Carrick was back on the bench for the quarter-final with Portugal, which finished goalless before England were beaten 3-1 on penalties, with Lampard missing the Three Lions’ opening kick. Again, Cole, Ferdinand, Lampard and Terry all started.
Former Hammer David James was also part of England's squad at the 2006 World Cup finals.
Former Hammer Paulo Wanchope’s second World Cup got off to an exciting start as he scored both goals for Costa Rica in a 2-4 defeat by hosts Germany in Munich. However, that was as good as it got for the No9 as the Central Americans were beaten 3-0 by Ecuador and 2-1 by Poland to finish bottom of Group A. Then just 21 and with Legia Warsaw, Łukasz Fabiański remained on the bench for Poland’s win over Costa Rica and defeats by Ecuador (0-2) and Germany (0-1) as they went out at the group stage.
Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez, both 22, helped Argentina top Group C with wins over Ivory Coast (2-1) and Serbia and Montenegro (6-0), with substitute Tevez scoring his country’s fifth goal in the latter, and a goalless draw with the Netherlands. Mascherano started and Tevez appeared as a substitute for the 2-1 round of 16 win over Mexico – a game in which recent West Ham loanee and current Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni made his only appearance of the tournament at right-back – before both started the penalty shootout defeat by Germany in the quarter-finals.
Future West Ham right-back and 2012 Championship Play-Off final winner Guy Demel, then of German club Hamburg, was an unused substitute in each of Ivory Coast’s three group matches.
In Group D, future Hammers striker Guillermo Franco made the opening goal for Omar Bravo in a 3-1 win over Iran, started a goalless draw with Angola and appeared as a substitute in a 1-2 defeat by Portugal, but was left on the bench for the aforementioned round of 16 defeat by Argentina. Another future West Ham forward, Luis Boa Morte’s sole appearance for Portugal came as a substitute in that win over Mexico.
Another right-back appeared in Group E as John Paintsil, who would join West Ham later the same summer, helped Ghana to wins over Czech Republic (2-0) and the United States (2-1) and recover from an opening defeat by Italy (0-2) and reach the round of 16, where he would start for a fourth time in a 0-3 defeat by Brazil.
Defender Lucas Neill, who would join West Ham from Blackburn Rovers in January 2007, also started all four ties for Australia, who negotiated Group F with a 3-1 win over Japan, 0-2 defeat by Brazil and 2-2 draw with Croatia before losing 1-0 to Italy in Kaiserslautern. Former Hammers winger Stan Lazaridis was an unused substitute for all four Socceroos matches.
Finally, a 21-year-old Valon Behrami, who joined West Ham in 2008, made one brief substitute appearance in a 2-0 Group G win over South Korea as Switzerland reached the round of 16 before losing to Ukraine in a penalty shootout.
