Ah, the South Africa FIFA World Cup. The world’s greatest players come together to play the world’s favorite sport on a massive world stage. The 2010 World Cup was exceptional and South Africa proved both an able and extraordinary host (with perhaps an above-average amount of local extortion and denial of urgent national issues, per the World Cup hosting norm – just wait until Rio…). Big moment after big moment determined the amount of time a nation’s citizens could justify singing their national anthem – and blowing the infamous vuvuzela. It will go down in soccer history as one of the best.
This is often glossed over in the Spanish version of the Cup, but they actually lost to tiny Switzerland in the first round, before it was do or die. With an impressive goal from Eren Derdiyok and a heroic effort from defenders and the goal keeper, Switzerland became the unlikely winner. It wasn’t exactly worth anything, but they did garner some respect by beating the eventual champion of the tournament.
Argentina was one of the favorites to win the World Cup in 2010, and coach Diego Maradona had even promised to run naked through Buenos Aires if it happened. But in the quarterfinals, Germany not only defeated Argentina, but laid a SCORE smack down that many wouldn’t have believed if they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes. Pictures of Maradona (clothed, thankfully) and Lionel Messi – depressed and crying – became viral images for years to come.
Though they’re allies most of the time, the England-U.S. match up was as close to a colonial rivalry as the world could have hoped to see. As the U.K. is normally considered to have the soccer edge over the States, it was assumed the game wouldn’t go in the Americans’ favor. But English goalie Robert Green changed that when he let a slow-moving ball roll into his goal to put the U.S. ahead to win the game. Even Clint Dempsey, the guy who scored thanks to Green’s gaff, felt bad for him.
As Ghana became the last African nation standing, it had the support of the continent behind it in it’s quarterfinal matchup against Uruguay. Luis Suarez of Uruguay had intentionally hand balled a shot that was headed for the goal, giving Ghana a penalty kick in the final seconds to win the game. Ghanaian star Asamaoah Gyan lined up to take the shot, but sent it into the crossbar as the pressure mounted. The game was sent to penalty kicks, in which Ghana ultimately lost. To his credit, however, Gyan did nail his penalty kick in the shootout, so you gotta give the guy props for that.
It was Slovakia’s first appearance in the World Cup, and they managed to knock out former 2006 champion Italy in the biggest upset of the tournament. The younger Slovak squad won 2-1 in a match where they had nothing to lose and everything to prove. The Italians had everything to lose and did so spectacularly early on, knocking themselves off the champion seat for a good while.
For the first time since 1930, the U.S. moved out of the group stage and advanced in the tournament thanks to Landon Donovan. With two minutes left in the match with Algeria, American goalie Tim Howard threw a long pass down to Capt. Donovan, who, after a couple of quick passes and blocked shots, swooped in to deliver the final blow and game-winning goal. Though the U.S. lost to Ghana in the following round, it was still a great moment.
It was a big moment for Spain, which had always been one of the soccer giants but had yet to secure a World Cup win. This was reflected in the notorious picture of Spanish team Capt. Iker Casillas in tears as the referee blew the final whistle to signify the end of the game and a win for his country.
Paul the Octopus was a “soccer oracle” in Oberhausen, Germany, who successfully called all six of Germany’s matches for the 2010 World Cup. He became a media darling as he made his predictions by touching a tentacle to the team he thought (do octopuses really think?) would win each match up. He then also called a Spanish win over the Netherlands in the final, making him the groundhog of the World Cup.
In the opening match of the tournament, South Africa took on Mexico and Siphiwe Tshabalala nailed the opening goal 55 minutes into the game with a beautiful kick into the top right goal corner. As the home crowd erupted (and the sound of the vuvuzela was unavoidable across the world), South Africans claimed the tournament as their own.