That player who went down clutching his ankle — and, funnily enough, not the ankle with which the opponent came into the mildest contact — just as his team were coming under pressure was indeed more likely than not to have been feigning injury. In all probability he was buying time for his team to regroup, either at the behest of the coaching staff or on his own initiative, although he may simply have fancied a breather.

Professor Jiri Dvorak, the chief medical officer of football’s world governing body, presented his findings from the tournament to a meeting of the Fifa referees committee yesterday and they reveal that more than half the players who were treated on the pitch during matches were not injured at all.

Although they suggest that cheating is endemic among the elite nations and pinpointed “tactical reasons” as the most likely cause of the players’ actions, there was no indication whether players or coaches were to blame.

“Fifty-eight per cent of the players who were treated on the pitch during the 2006 World Cup eventually turned out not to be injured,” a statement from the committee read. The good news is that, although players were dropping like flies, especially during the later stages of matches, there were fewer genuine injuries than in the previous tournament.

Of those reported, the rate at which they were sustained was down from 2.7 per match at the 2002 World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea to 2.3 in Germany — a total of 145 injuries in 64 matches at the 2006 tournament.

As may have been expected, most came as a result of direct contact with other players, but 26 per cent were suffered without contact with a team-mate or an opponent. Among these was the cruciate ligament injury sustained by Michael Owen, the England and Newcastle United forward, which is likely to keep him sidelined until next season.

Head injuries, especially those caused by elbowing, had been a prime concern of the Fifa Medical Assessment and Research Centre in recent years and the change in the rules to mandate a red card for the offence was felt to have had a beneficial effect, with 11 head injuries representing 8 per cent of all injuries compared with 15 per cent during the 2002 finals.

“An impact on the actual frequency of injuries will only be seen in the long run when we can analyse higher numbers,” Dvorak said. “But the new regulations certainly serve to lower the risk for the players.”

But if the drop in the overall number of injuries will be little comfort to Owen or supporters of Newcastle, they were a source of mutual back-slapping for Fifa officials. Referees were praised for protecting players and ensuring elbowing offences were properly punished.

“The referees and assistant referees fulfilled the high expectations placed on them and complied with the instructions to protect players and thus the game better,” Ángel María Villar Llona, the chairman of the Spanish federation and vice-president of the Fifa executive committee, who chaired the meeting, said. “The preparation period of almost four years for the World Cup in Germany paid off.”

Needless to say, Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, pronounced himself pleased with the results on his watch. “I am very satisfied with the referees’ performances at the 2006 World Cup,” he said. “They achieved more than their counterparts in Korea/Japan in 2002.”

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