2006 World Cup Field Set

The last doorway to the 2006 Germany World Cup has closed.

Spain, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Trinidad-Tobago qualified for the main round of the 2006 World Cup yesterday.

Including Australia, which is entering the main round for the first time in 32 years, all 32 2006 World Cup main round tournament slots have now been filled.

The curse of the final four-

Turkey, which finished third in the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, fell out of the race, even after scoring four goals in the European playoff match.

Tunkai Sanli of Turkey pulled off a hat trick in 4-2 victory in a home game playing against Switzerland, but Turkey failed to advance to the main round.

The failure is due to their 0-2 loss in their prior away game. Although the score from both matches evens out, a team gets more points from winning an away game. The myth about ‘the curse of the final four’ seems to continue on.

“The curse of the final four” is a jinx that one of the last World Cup’s final four will not get to advance to the main round of the next World Cup.

Caribbean miracle-

Trinidad and Tobago advanced to the main round of the World Cup after defeating Bahrain, 1-0 in the second match in North and Central America-Asia playoff. Their first match was a 1-1 draw.

Trinidad and Tobago, an island nation of 1.27 million people, was in a state of national jubilation after advancing to World Cup main round for the first time in its history.

Jae-Yun Jung jaeyuna@donga.com