Editing 2006 FIFA World Cup (section)

===Traditional powers dominate===
Despite early success by [[Australia men's national soccer team|Australia]], [[Ecuador national football team|Ecuador]], and [[Ghana national football team|Ghana]], the tournament marked a return to dominance of traditional football powers. Four years after the [[2002 FIFA World Cup|2002 tournament]], in which teams from North America (the [[United States men's national soccer team|United States]]), Africa ([[Senegal national football team|Senegal]]) and Asia ([[South Korea national football team|South Korea]]) made it deep into the knockout stages and [[Turkey national football team|Turkey]] finished third, all eight seeded teams progressed to the knockout stages and no quarter-finalists were from outside Europe or South America. Six former champions took part in the quarter-finals, with Ukraine and [[2004 UEFA European Football Championship|Euro 2004]] runners-up [[Portugal national football team|Portugal]] as the only relative outsiders.<ref>{{cite news|title=World Cup quarterfinals |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/soccer/20060630-9999-lz1s30worldcu.html |last=Zeigler |first=Mark |publisher=Union Tribune |date=30 June 2006 |access-date=31 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080524021422/http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/soccer/20060630-9999-lz1s30worldcu.html |archive-date=24 May 2008 }}</ref> Argentina and Brazil were eliminated in the quarter-finals, leaving an all-European final four for only the fourth time (after the [[1934 FIFA World Cup|1934]], [[1966 FIFA World Cup|1966]], and [[1982 FIFA World Cup|1982]] tournaments).