History of the FIFA World Cup as earning the Bronze Ball award. He led Bulgaria to a shock 2-1 win over defending champions Germany in the quarter-finals, before losing 2–1 to Italy and losing the third place play-off to Sweden, 4–0. The 1998 World Cup was held in France, and had an expanded format featuring 32 teams. Iran beat the Maldives in qualification by the widest margin in World Cup history – 17–0. In the finals, the second round match between France and Paraguay witnessed the first golden goal in World Cup history, as Laurent Blanc scored to give the hosts a 1–0 victory. Hosts France
2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC First Round find the best of the teams that lost, who would also advance to the Second Round. The losers were compared, using the following criteria to break ties: a) number of points; b) goal difference; c) goals scored. Thus, Laos advanced to the Second Round. 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC First Round The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification AFC play-off was the first round of the Asian Football Confederation qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The 14 teams with the lowest FIFA rankings played home-and-away knockout matches to qualify for the second stage. <div id="Turkmenistan v Afghanistan"> <div