BERLIN (AP) -- Who's the baddest World Cup team of them all? A software company says Paraguay ranks at the bottom when it comes to misbehavior at the global soccer tournament.
Staff at the British office of Information Builders (IBI) tracked a string of alternative statistics during Germany 2006, including dives, feigned injuries, referee intimidation, and tantrums -- even players who didn't sing their national anthem.
According to their findings from watching TV broadcasts of the 32 teams' games, Italy leads in dives (32), France in tantrums (28), Paraguay in fake injuries (12), and Serbia and Montenegro in players not singing the anthem (31).
Croatia, France, Italy and Portugal are tied in bullying the referee incidents with five, although Croatia played half the games (three) than the others did.
Information Builders devised the "IBI Foul Play Index" by awarding points for yellow and red cards, bullying the referee, dives, fake injuries and tantrums. The total is then divided by the number of games played.
Paraguay leads the tournament with an index of 45, followed by Italy (40) and the Netherlands, Ivory Coast and Portugal (37).
France, Italy's opponent in Sunday's final, is tied with Germany, Switzerland and Togo for 14th at 26. England, tied with South Korea, is 19th at 23.
Trinidad and Tobago was the best behaved team the tournament, with a Foul Play Index of just 14. Next were Brazil, Costa Rica and Sweden (all 15) and the U.S. (16).
T&T were nailed for just four dives, three tantrums, two fake injuries and three players not singing the anthem.Angola, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Spain all scored perfect marks in anthem participation.
Information Builders is using the information to promote its software, which organizes data.
FIFA has its own Fair Play Index, but declined to provide it when asked Friday.
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DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DID: FIFA president Sepp Blatter has admitted diving in order to trick referees during his playing days in Switzerland.
Diving, simulating fouls, faking injuries and players pleading with referees to pull cards on rivals have become a scourge of the World Cup. Blatter, as head of the sport's governing body, and the likes of Franz Beckenbauer are outspoken critics of it.
But Blatter has admitted in a TV interview to be aired on CNN International that he was less than a model of sportsmanship when he played in the Swiss league.
"I was not a perfect player, I have to say, being a striker. A striker cannot be a perfect player," Blatter said in the interview. "I also argued with the referee but I tried to argue in a polite manner.
"I tried also to get some advantages by joking with a player and then falling down by saying 'but he touched me.' And in fact it was not that. I did it."
Blatter said he could understand why players tried a bit of gamesmanship.
"All players -- especially attacking players -- they do it because you go into the 18-yard area and then you lose the ball because somebody takes it away," he said. "You are frustrated, and then in the frustration you do two things, either you try to get the ball back and then you commit a foul or then you say 'but he touched me,' and then you fall down.
"I can understand the players acting like that. But now they are at the level of the World Cup and they are the professionals, so they should think about that."
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ON THE BLOCK: A little piece of the World Cup could be yours.
Hamburg auction house Dechow says the organizing committee has chosen it as a partner in disposing of tournament equipment -- and ensuring that not too much will end up in the garbage.
"A lot of the inventory can be reused, even if it is just to take a piece of the World Cup home, and enjoy that even if it has no practical use," Dechow manager Jan Broeker told the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Friday.
So what will be on offer, exactly?
"No turf, but otherwise we are still gathering what we can offer," Broeker said.
He added that some stadium managers and cities had expressed interest in keeping World Cup equipment, perhaps for museums _ "but we are hopeful that we can auction the corner flags, as well as one or two trainers' benches and perhaps even a goal."
Auction dates have yet to be set, but "we hope we will be through with everything in the second half of August at the latest," Broeker said.
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ITALY'S WONDERWALL: Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher plans to take in Sunday's World Cup final, wearing a special outfit at the request of Italy's Alessandro Del Piero.
The Manchester City fan, who has already seen Germany-Italy and England-Sweden, told
www.fifaworldcup.com that Del Piero is an Oasis fan.
"He comes to see us when we're over in Italy and he's been to see us in France," Gallagher said. "We did an interview with him once for the Gazzetta dello Sport and we got to know him. He gives us shirts and he gave me a pair of his boots once, but I had to split them with (brother) Liam -- he's got one boot and I've got the other."
Gallagher said Del Piero, upset that he was not starting against Germany, told him he would score off the bench.
"After the game, he said I'd become his lucky mascot so I've got to go to the final and wear the exact same clothes and underwear and socks to bring him good luck."
Gallagher said he had been impressed with several Mexican players and Argentina forward Carlos Tevez, calling him "the little rough-looking fellow."
"Apart from Tevez, I'd go for (England's) Owen Hargreaves."
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THE CLEAN GAME: Thirsty fans at the 2006 World Cup consumed drinks in 5.5 million refillable cups that were sold in stadiums in an effort to cut down on waste generated during the tournament, a leading German environmental group said.
The DUH praised the reusable cup initiative for helping make World Cup 2006 "the cleanest game ever."
Organizers for the 2008 European Championship, to be held in Switzerland and Austria, have already expressed interest in a similar concept, the DUH said.
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SAFE HANDS: Italy's Gianluigi Buffon can enter the World Cup record book Sunday.
Buffon, who has only given up an own-goal at the tournament, has not been beaten for 453 minutes to rank fifth in the all-time ranking for goalkeepers. A shutout against Italy will give Buffon, last beaten in the 27th minute of Italy's second group game against the U.S., the tournament record.
The current mark is held by Italian Walter Zenga, who went 517 minutes without conceding a goal at Italia 90, going five matches before Argentina's Claudio Caniggia scored in the 67th minute of the semifinal.
