What were the 3 most powerful events in football for you in 2006?

The emphasis here is on your personal experience - which 3 moments do you feel had the most impact on you, drew the biggest reaction from you, in the last year?

Here’s my list (in no particular order):

England lose to Portugal on penalties

After predicting that England would win the World Cup and supporting them throughout, it was bitter and gut-wrenching to see them crash out the way they did. Not with a bang then, but with a sorry whimper. It hurt because England had been (and still is) very high on potential, and they just couldn’t get their shit together when they needed to. The fear in Lampard’s eyes, Jamie Carragher’s selection as penalty taker, Eriksson’s team selection…it all hurt, but ironically I could not, for the life of me, feel any sympathy for the crying players. They had bottled it, and they deserved the abuse they got.

Italy win the World Cup

So this is what what winning a World Cup feels like…

If England’s defeat was the pain, Italy’s eventual triumph was the emotional release that brought closure. On one level, it was just a matter of supporting the right team (from the semi-finals onwards, that is). On the other, it was finally knowing what it feels like to have your team win the World Cup. Damn it felt good.

Manchester United 5-1 Fulham

3 months of moaning, bitching, criticising and psychotic depression. Manchester United were in decline, they said.

20 minutes of sheer, unadulterated genius. Football so perfect you’d be hard-pressed to dream about it. Words can’t explain it - you had to watch Rooney’s cross land perfectly at Ronaldo’s feet to realise what a privilege it was to have witnessed it.

What were your 3 top football moments in 2006? Let us know in the comments below…