The colors this World Cup will be remembered for were red and yellow.
Zinedine Zidane's ejection during France's penalty-kicks loss to Italy Sunday's final was a record 28th red card of the tournament. The previous mark was 22 at the 1998 tournament in France.
Argentine referee Horacio Elizondo also gave four yellow cards during the match. That raised the tournament total to 345 - 27 percent above the previous mark set in Japan and South Korea in 2002.
The United States tied for the most red cards in this tournament with two - and the least yellow, with five. Other countries with two reds were Italy, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Portugal and Serbia-Montenegro.
Portugal led with 24 yellow cards in seven matches, followed by Ghana with 18 in four. The U.S. and South Korea tied for the fewest yellows, with five each in three games.
A three-time world player of the year, Zidane became just the fourth player sent off in a World Cup final when he launched his head into the chest of Marco Materazzi in the 110th minute.
Argentina's Pedro Monzon and Gustavo Abel Dezotti received red cards in Germany's 1-0 win in 1990 in Italy, and France's Marcel Desailly was ejected after receiving two yellow cards in his country's 3-0 win over Brazil in 1998.
With 143 goals in 64 games, the average of 2.23 was just above the record low of 2.21 set in 1990.
(Agencies)
