2006 Algarve Cup

Tournament details
Host country	Portugal
City	Algarve
Dates	9–15 March
Teams	11 (from 3 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	Germany (1st title)
Runners-up	United States
Third place	Sweden
Fourth place	France
Tournament statistics
Matches played	20
Goals scored	55 (2.75 per match)
← 2005 2007 →

The 2006 Algarve Cup is the 13th edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Portugal. It took place 9–15 March 2006. Eleven teams participated in this edition of the Algarve Cup. Germany won the tournament defeating the USA, 4–3, in the final-game. Sweden ended up third defeating France, 1–0, in the third-prize game.^[1]

Format

The eleven teams are split into three groups that played a round-robin group stage, with 4 teams each in Group A and Group B, and 3 teams in Group C.

The format for this edition of the Algarve Cup is as follows: Groups A and B, containing the strongest ranked teams, are the only ones in contention to win the title. The group A and B winners contest the final – to win the Algarve Cup. The runners-up play for third place, and those that finish third in the groups play for fifth place. The teams in Group C played for places 7–12. The winner of Group C played the team that finished fourth in Group A or B (whichever has the better record) for seventh place. The Group C runner-up played the team who finishes last in Group A or B (with the worse record) for ninth place. The team that finished last in Group C does not participate in the play-off stage.

Points awarded in the group stage followed the standard formula of three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss. In the case of two teams being tied on the same number of points in a group, their head-to-head result determined the higher place.

Teams

The twelve invited teams were:

Team	FIFA Rankings (December 2005)
Germany	1
United States	2
Norway	3
Sweden	5
France	7
Denmark	8
China	9
Finland	16
Mexico	26
Republic of Ireland	32
Portugal (hosts)	40

• Northern Ireland (77) was scheduled to be the fourth participant in Group C, but they withdrew and were replaced by Slovakia (43), who also withdrew.

Group stage

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Germany	3	3	0	0	9	0	+9	9
Sweden	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
Norway	3	0	2	1	0	1	−1	2
Finland	3	0	1	2	1	9	−8	1

9 March 2006

Germany	5–0	Finland
Pohlers 59' Prinz 63' Garefrekes 71' Behringer 80' Fuss 85'	DfB Report (in German)

Estádio Algarve

Attendance: 100

9 March 2006

Norway	0–0	Sweden
	SvFF Report (in Swedish)

Loulé

11 March 2006

Sweden	0–3	Germany
	SvFF Report (in Swedish)	Prinz 29' Behringer 44' Wimbersky 58'

Loulé

11 March 2006

15:00

Finland	0–0	Norway
	Report

Alvor

Attendance: 225

Referee: Gasje Fatou

13 March 2006

Sweden	4–1	Finland
Svensson 26', 52', 85' Mostrom 68'	SvFF Report (in Swedish)	Valkonen 85'

Lagos

13 March 2006

Germany	1–0	Norway
Wimbersky 93'	DfB Report (in German)

Estádio Algarve

Attendance: 400

Referee: Floarea Babadac (Romania)

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
United States	3	2	1	0	9	1	+8	7
France	3	1	1	1	4	6	−2	4
China	3	1	1	1	6	1	+5	4
Denmark	3	0	1	2	2	13	−11	1

• France takes 2nd place in Group B via head-to-head result against China

9 March 2006

China	0–0	United States
	Report

Faro

9 March 2006

Denmark	2–2	France
Nielsen 31' Sørensen 50'		Coquet 18' Tonazzi 26'

Faro

11 March 2006

France	1–0	China
Bussaglia 2'

Faro

11 March 2006

Denmark	0–5	United States
	Report	Wambach 16' O'Reilly 29', 31' Lilly 42' Kai 72'

Faro

13 March 2006

United States	4–1	France
Lilly 1' Wagner 49' Tarpley 50' Kai 76'	Report	Lattaf 64'

Faro-Loulé

13 March 2006

Denmark	0–6	China
		Duan 20' (34), 41' Yue 28' (52) Xiaoyan 66'

Lagos

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Mexico	2	1	1	0	6	0	+6	4
Republic of Ireland	2	1	1	0	1	0	+1	4
Portugal	2	0	0	2	0	7	−7	0

9 March 2006

Portugal	0–1	Republic of Ireland
	Report	Laura Hislop 29'

Alvor

11 March 2006

Republic of Ireland	0–0	Mexico

Vila Real de Santo Antonio

13 March 2006

Portugal	0–6	Mexico
	Report	Castelan 4', 23' Soto 30' González 35' Costa 42' Maradiaga 77'

Silves

Placement play-offs

Ninth place match

15 March 2006

Denmark	4–0	Republic of Ireland

Algarve

Seventh place match

15 March 2006

Finland	4–3	Mexico

Algarve

Fifth place match

15 March 2006

10:00

Norway	1–0	China
Rønning	Report

Algarve

Attendance: 100

Referee: Dagmar Damkova

Third place match

15 March 2006

Sweden	1–0	France
Schelin 51'	SvFF Report (in Swedish)

Algarve

Final

15 March 2006

Germany	0–0 (a.e.t.)	United States
	Report
Penalties
Behringer Pohlers Prinz Okoyino Da Mbabi Wimbersky	4–3	Wagner Boxx Whitehill Wambach Lilly

Estádio do Algarve, Faro-Loulé

2006 Algarve Cup
Germany First title

Final standings

Rank	Team
	Germany
	United States
	Sweden
4	France
5	Norway
6	China
7	Finland
8	Mexico
9	Denmark
10	Republic of Ireland
11	Portugal