Sixteen Yellow Cards, Four Red Cards, and a Referee Who Lost Control

# Sixteen Yellow Cards, Four Red Cards, and a Referee Who Lost Control

June 25, 2006. Nuremberg, Germany. Round of 16. Portugal vs Netherlands. The "Battle of Nuremberg."

Sixteen yellow cards. Four red cards. Twenty cards total. Both teams finished with nine men. The dirtiest, most undisciplined match in World Cup history.

Russian referee Valentin Ivanov lost control almost immediately. 2nd minute: yellow. By the 7th minute: three more booked. Before halftime: Costinha sent off (second yellow). Second half: pure chaos. Boulahrouz elbowed Figo in the face — yellow. Van Bronckhorst and Deco shoved each other — both sent off. Sneijder pushed Petit — yellow.

Portugal won 1-0. Sepp Blatter publicly criticised Ivanov: the referee "deserved a yellow card himself." He later apologised. Deco, one of those sent off, said: "It wasn't a football match. It was something else. I'm not sure what. But it wasn't football."