consecutive time that they had done so at the World Cup finals. Costa Rica vs Poland Poland and Costa Rica had previously met on two other occasions, both ending in victories for the Poles, but this was their first competitive fixture. With both teams already eliminated, their final match was a dead rubber played in high temperatures. Poland held the majority of possession early on but Costa Rica took the lead after 25 minutes, Gomez scoring via a direct free-kick which went through the defensive wall and the legs of Boruc who was unable to react. However, Poland equalised eight minutes later when Bartosz Bosacki scored his first international goal and his nation's first of the competition, volleying in off the crossbar from Żurawski's corner, the Poles' sixth of the game, after Porras had failed to gather the ball. Bosacki added a second in the 66th minute, again from a corner, this time with a powerful header. Wanchope had a late goal ruled out for offside as the match eventually finished 2–1 to Poland. Referee Shamsul Maidin gave out 10 yellow cards during the game, the fourth highest in World Cup history at the time. Aftermath Germany finished top of the group with nine points having won all three of their group matches. They faced Sweden, the runners-up of Group B, in the round of 16, winning 2–0. They went on to defeat Argentina in the quarter-finals on penalties before suffering defeat to Italy in the semi-finals. Germany finished third after defeating Portugal 3–1 in the third-place playoff. As runners-up in the group with six points, Ecuador faced the winners of Group B, England, in the next round but were eliminated after a 1–0 defeat. Poland would not return to the competition until the 2018 World Cup while Costa Rica failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup before returning for the 2014 tournament. Klose's four goals during the group stage contributed to him winning the Golden Boot as the competition's top goalscorer. He finished the World Cup with five in total, the lowest tally needed to win the award since 1962. His teammate Podolski went on to win the young player of the tournament award. References Bibliography A Group Poland at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Group Ecuador at the 2006 FIFA World Cup