The 2006 World Cup shall be remembered for many, many things. Whiny Cristiano Ronaldo, first and foremost, the disappointment of Asian teams, the downfall of what was supposed to be the best England team in years, the yeng-ness of Fabio Cannavaro, mad referee-ing, and of course the now infamous head-butt popularised by Zinedine Zidane himself.
So, the next time someone pisses you off, don't just say "I'm going to punch you!", or "I whack you one ar!"
So, the next time someone pisses you off, don't just say "I'm going to punch you!", or "I whack you one ar!"
Besides 'The Zidane Maneuver'', the World Cup introduced us to one more thing. WAGS.
What are WAGS? Don't be surprised if you see this term, a few years down the road, being inducted into the Oxford or some other dictionary, just as our Malaysian 'lah' suffix has made it there, albeit being wrongly credited as a Singaporean creation.
The football wives and girlfriends of the England World Cup team made the headlines for all the wrong reasons- excessive shopping, excessive drinking, excessive partying. To make their lives easier, tabloids created an acronym to refer to the wives and girlfriends of the footballers, and lo and behold, WAGS was born.
Since I did that whole feature on footballers, and since I've gotten requests for their wives, and because the guys are complaining that they don't have anything to ogle, I present to you... The World Cup, Female Edition.
Before we take a look at the teams, let's take a look at the players who featured in the past World Cup, but were not seen at this years.
The football world was buzzing when Adriana Sklenarikova, a well-known Slovak model married the French footballer, Christian Karembeu, who won the World Cup in '98. The pair were often cited as the most mismatched couple in terms of looks.
Model-wife to Patrick Kluivert, Dutch striker who was the all-time leading goalscorer in the national team as of 2005.
Wife of ex-England and Arsenal goalkeeper, David Seaman. Wonder what she said about David's ponytail?
Supermodel ex to Christian Vieri, famously known for his spectacular goals, and who has played with 13 clubs in his entire career. Recently speculated to be retiring.
The wife of Phil Neville, and sister-in-law to Gary. They have a two-year-old daughter named Isabella, which somehow, sounds weird with Neville.
Wife to Liverpool veteran, Robbie Fowler. At least he didn't wear the plaster thingy on his wedding day.
Oliver Bierhoff's girlfriend Klara Szalantzy. Bierhoff stopped playing international football after the '02 WC but loyalty to his country got him involved in the management of the German team at this year's tournament.
It was the Posh and Becks of the early nineties, when Jamie Redknapp, Frank Lampard's cousin and one of Liverpool's famous players then, married Brit popstar Louise Nurding. Redknapp's style was often compared to Becks, but was more unlucky, having a football career plagued with injury.
Law lecturer, long-time girlfriend and now wife of former England, Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder, Steve McManaman, the only England player to have won two Champions League medals, one of which with a foreign club.
Wife of Spanaird Fernando Morientes, who was once known for his goal-scoring skills but has since fallen out of the pecking order both at club and at country.
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And now, to the teams. :D
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Giselle first met Roque Santa Cruz as one of her brother's teammates, but they became more than just that. The couple are now married and have two children.
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Easily Ukraine's most famous football export, Andriy Shevchenko has gotten himself an equally famous wife, that is, in the world of modelling. American model Kristen Pazik met Shevchenko at a fashion show party, and the rest was history.
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Eva Gonzalez, a Spanish model, is the woman lucky enough to have captured goalie Iker Casillas' heart.
The classy looking woman who is the reason behind why Raul, her goalscoring husband always kisses his wedding ring in celebration every single time he scores a goal. Ain't that sweet? Well, she must be doing something right because Raul has scored helluva lot of goals in his career.
A recent university graduate, the girlfriend of Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso who is simply known as Nagore, preferred to talk about her job than about the brands she favours in a recent interview.
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David Trezeguet's wife's heart must have ached when she watched her husband miss the penalty against Italy in the finals.
Cheryl and Patrick Vieira look like such a happy couple.
It's been quite a couple of years and still people around the world can't figure out what it is that leggy supermodel Linda Evangelista sees in Fabian Barthez. Maybe she likes bald guys like Siokkwan. :D
Claude Makelele must understand women as well as he understands his football. He has a daughter with his Noemie Lenoir, his gorgeous French supermodel wife.
Yet another French superstar marries another supermodel. Thierry Henry and wife, Nicole Merry have a daughter named Tea. What a weird name. Next thing you know, there'll be a poor kid named Coffee and Cappucino. As for the asian versions, we'll soon be hearing about a Tan Teh Ping or a Chong Koh Pee. Sad.
Mrs. I'm-Going-To-Zidane-you! You may not want to mess with her either.
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Alessia, who went a different shade of hair colour for her wedding, is married to Hernan Crespo, Chelsea's super-sub, and one of FIFA's best 100 present footballers.
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Swedish model Helene Svedin was charmed by the dashing Luis Figo years ago; they are now happily married with three beautiful daughters.
Barcelona and Portugese playmaker Deco, who bears a resemblance to Hoobastank's lead singer, marries Brazilian girlfriend Jaciara.
The on/off TV presenter girlfriend of Cristiano Ronaldo is almost ten years older than him. All the better then, she can babysit the crybaby.
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Mrs. Mark Viduka, whose husband captained his national team to the Round of 16 in this year's World Cup despite being slated as the underdogs. Could have went further if not for the ref.
Harry Kewell married the British soap actress with the big smile in 2002, and they have had two adorable kids since. [They have a super nice house too- I saw on MTV Cribs o.O He has a lot of shoes, weih.]
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I couldn't find her name anywhere, hmm. Is it just me, or is she falling out of her dress?
Jan Koller, all time leading goal scorer of the Czech Republic, married his beautiful bride, Hedvida Kankova.
Wife to one-time European footballer of the year, Pavel Nedved.
The model girlfriend of Czech midfielder, Tomas Rosicky, who is nicknamed 'Little Mozart' for his size and his flashes of brilliance on the pitch. This former Ms. Czech Republic with the amazing complexion will probably be seen a lot more now that Rosicky has moved to hone his craft at Arsenal.
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Bianca Kajlich is an actress and also fiancee to American playmaker and possibly most famous American footballer, Landon Donovan. She has appeared on Boston Public and had a role in Bring It On.
Brian McBride, who has just retired from international football, had known Dina since they were children. They kept in touch all along, and finally romance took over. Brian often refers to her as his strength in life during interviews.
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Kaka's long-time childhood girlfriend, and now, beloved wife. Reportedly, Kaka stayed a virgin till his wedding night.
Is this Brazilian supermodel the reason why Ronaldo's looking extra prosperous these days? One can only wonder.
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Annemarie was a greengrocer down the road from where Edwin van der Sar used to live. He came everyday, until after awhile, her brother realised that it wasn't for the vegetables. :D So adorable.
Arjen Robben's girlfriend whom he knew before his football career, aptly only known as Bernadien, has a heart made of gold. The children in the picture do not belong to the both of them, but they are children that the couple has met during their charity missions.
Wife of Arsenal and Dutch youngster, Robin van Persie. Hopefully now that he's settled down, he'll stop with all the disciplinary problems.
Ruud van Nistelrooy, former Man Utd hero, married his long-time girlfriend Leontien recently and she is rumoured to be pregnant at the moment. Leontien runs a charitable foundation that Ruud and her commendably set up.
Newlywed Sylvie van der Vaart, formerly a Dutch MTV VJ, was recently voted hottest footballer wife by a German newspaper. Wonder what her husband, Rafael, had to say about that.
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The German Wags showing their men some support before a match. How united they look. Guess there aren't any catfights.
Behind every successful goalkeeper, there must be an equally confident and calm woman and Jens Lehmann looks to have found just that in his wife, Conny.
Daniela must have been jumping up and down in the stands when boyfriend Bastien Schweinsteiger scored two goals in the third placing game to bundle Portugal out of the match.
Tim Borowski and his newlywed wife, Lena. Who has nicer hair, Tim or Lena? Judging by the number of times he touches his hair during a match, Tim Borowski must wish that it was him.
The wife of Germany captain, and newest Chelsea purchase, Michael Ballack. Guess we'll be seeing a lot more of her and the three little Ballacks at Stamford Bridge soon.
Kahn, once German first choice goalie, left his wife for this young bar-maid. Is that why his goalkeeping started sliding?
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This model has been seeing Gianluigi Buffon, goalkeeping ace of this time. Definitely one of the tourney's best goalkeepers alongside Ricardo. His teammates call him Gigi; wonder what she calls him?
Girlfriend of Italian and AC Milan player, Alberto Gilardino. The couple are set to marry sometime soon.
This lucky, lucky woman is married to our yeng-ness factor of the tournament. Enough said.
Alessandro Nesta was part of the '98 World Cup team and was injured after the World Cup game against Austria. At that time, Gabriela Pagnozzi was working at the Italian headquarters there and was assigned to take care of him. The rest, as they say, is history. Aww.
Former model and wife of Francesco Totti, widely-known as the icon of Roman football having declined moves to bigger clubs to play for his hometown club, AS Roma.
The tall, elegant runway model redhead has been dating Italian striker Luca Toni, who scored two goals in the q-finals, for eight years now.
The sweet and soft-spoken wife of hot-headed and fiery Gennaro Gattuso probably does a good job at keeping a balance in their marriage.
The missus of Alessandro del Piero, arguably one of the most famous Italian footballers. The couple have been dating since 1999 and married last year.
Wife of Gianluca Zambrotta, who scored against Ukraine in the quarterfinals.
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Guess who's girlfriend she is? It is none other than everyone's (insert lots of sarcasm here) favourite England player, the flamingo, Peter Crouch. Imagine that. She's one of the finalists for Britain's Next Top Model, which doesn't make her model, but a wannabe model. In addition to that, she's got cocaine addiction problems. Plus, she was quoted as saying that she wanted to "marry a footballer, get pregnant, and then shop for te rest of my life". Ugh. Anyone wants to guess why she's hanging on to the 2.01 metres guy?
Alex Curran has been dating Steven Gerrard since 2002 and they are engaged to be married in the summer of 2007. Will they make it a dual celebration with Gerrard getting the England captaincy? The couple have two daughters, Lily-Ella and Lexie.
Joe Cole's fitness instructor girlfriend looks like she wants to be the queen of all WAGS as she paraded through Germany with more shopping bags than any of the other girls, pouring and mixing drinks for the other girls and getting in the news for all the wrong reasons when she shared a kiss with Lisa Roughead during a wild girls' night out.
After tying the knot with Ashley Cole not long ago, Cheryl Tweedy of Girls Aloud fame is probably getting used to marital bliss right now. She dismissed talk of a prenuptial agreement, saying it defeated the entire sacredity of marriage. During his speech at the weeding, Cheryl's father jokingly asked Ashley to transfer to his favourite team, Newcastle United, if he wanted his daughter's hand in marriage. :D
Probably the most famous young WAG of her age group, Wayne Rooney's girlfriend, Coleen has acted on her fame and has recently contributed to a few charitable foundations and is looking into starting her own line of clothes.
Elen Rives, Frank Lampard's fiancee, is said to be the rowdiest and wildest amongst the England WAGs. Often photographed with distinct facial expressions on her face, she was slated as the one who led the girls partying in Germany. Frank and her have a daughter named... Luna Coco Patricia Lampard. Go figure.
Fiance to the Man Utd captain and the best right-back on earth. A English tabloid reported her to have arrived unfashionably early to the matches in Germany, while the rest of the WAGs made their respective entrances. Usually not in the news except for that time one or two years back when The Sun published that she was allegedly cheating on him.
Janelle Khouri, Owen Hargreaves' girlfriend for quite some time now, is a former footballer herself and is said to be the classiest of all the England WAGs becaues she doesn't take part in their petty competing and wild partying nights.
The girlfriend to Michael Carrick, who just finalised a move to Man United from Spurs. Guess she'll be a regular fixture at Old Trafford soon enough. Always photographed in a clique with Carly, Vanessa and Michaela.
Louise Bonsall was Michael Owen's childhood sweetheart for many years before the two of them finally tied the knot in 2005. They have two children, Gemma and James Michael.
Young Melanie Slade's name shot to fame after boyfriend Theo Walcott was strangely given a place in the England squad after zero prior first team action. As a result, she and her parents gained a free trip to Germany.
This petite WAG with the longest name will likely be a force to be reckoned with in the next edition of the World Cup as boyfriend Stewart Downing will probably be in the starting line-up after a string of good performances as a sub this time round.
Wife of Jamie Carragher, Liverpool vice-captain and England defender.
The pregnant fiance (I think) of England and Man-U centreback, Rio Ferdinand. Keeps considerably low-key most of the time as compared to the rest of the England WAGS, except for the time when the tabloids reported of Rio cheating on her.
Not much can be found about the Robinsons, but they look like a happy, down-to-earth family. At least Paul Robinson had someone to comfort him after the q-final loss to Portugal where he didn't save a single penalty.
Mrs. JT, after just having given birth to twins. Could she be future Queen WAG if he gets to wear the captain's armband next? And on a side note- every guy should own a polo tee like JT does. Phwoar-ness.
While Wayne Bridge only got to warm the bench in Germany, his pregnant girlfriend warmed up her credit cards with the rest of the England WAGS.
She needs no introduction, really. The Queen of all WAGS. Posh & Becks make up the world's most famous couple in sports. Following in daddy dearest's footsteps, Cruz Beckham, in pink looks like a metrosexual in the making already. One can only wonder, who will take the throne after Becks stops playing international football?
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So, which team do you think wins the World Cup? The England WAGS team sure wins hands down for having the most sunglasses worn in pictures. :D
