South Africa came alive with the sound of vuvuzela’s as the African nation welcomed 32 countries for the 19th World Cup finals.
Reigning European champions Spain were hotly tipped as one of the favourites along with Joachim Loew’s Germany to lift the trophy.
Host nation South Africa opened the tournament against Mexico in Johannesburg. An absolute screamer from Siphiwe Tshabalala was the first goal of the tournament which looked to have secured a win for the ‘Bafana Bafana’. Defender Rafael Marquez scored a late equaliser to earn the Mexicans a point in an enthralling opener.
Here is a reminder of the Shabalala goal;
The group stages provided several interesting match ups;
- Group A – South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
- Group B – Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece
- Group C – England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
- Group D – Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
- Group E – Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
- Group F – Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
- Group G – Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal
- Group H – Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile
With the group stages well underway, the South American teams performed strongly as expected with all five advancing to the knockout stages, four as group winners.
However, the overall performance of African teams was judged as disappointing in contrast. Of the six only Ghana, South Africa and Ivory Coast won any matches. Only Ghana progressed to the second round. South Africa became the first host in World Cup history not to make it out of the group stage.
Only six of the thirteen European teams advanced to the knockout stage with France and Italy being the two biggest sides knocked out at such an early juncture.
The round of sixteen was once again dominated by the South American teams with four of the five advancing to the quarter finals. Chile the only team not to qualify as they were knocked out by five time winners Brazil in Johannesburg.
England’s game against arch rivals Germany was marred by controversy as Frank Lampard’s equaliser was adjudged to have not crossed the line with replays showing that it in fact had done so. The eventual 4–1 loss to Germany was the biggest ever margin of defeat at a World Cup finals gor England. It was also the first time that a World Cup finals match between these two traditional rivals had a decisive result in regulation time.
The goal that never was by Frank Lampard;
Both Paraguay and Ghana reached the last eight for the first time with Ghana becoming only the third African team to reach the quarter finals.
The three quarter finals between European and South American teams all resulted in wins for Europeans. Germany secured a 4–0 victory over Argentina while the Netherlands came from behind to beat Brazil 2–1 handing them their first loss in a World Cup match held outside Europe.
Spain went through thanks to a late David Villa goal against Paraguay. Uruguay were the only South American team to survive the last eight with a 4-2 penalty shootout victory over Ghana. Liverpool’s Luis Suarez was sent off in this game for a deliberate hand ball as Dominic Adiyiha’s goal bound header was palmed off the goal line.
The extra time penalty was missed by Asamoah Gyan who saw his spot kick rebound off the crossbar.
The Suarez penalty incident;
The resulting penalty miss from Gyan;
Uruguay played the Netherlands in the first semi final in Cape Town. The Netherlands won the match 3–2 to reach the final of the tournament for the first time since 1978.
Dutch captain Giovanni Van Bronckhurst opened the scoring with a 35 yard effort. Diego Forlan equalised for Uruguay before Wesley Sneijder restored the Netherlands lead before Arjen Robben extended their lead three minutes later.
A late free kick for Maxi Pereira was no more than a conciliation as Holland edged through to meet Spain in the final.
In the other semi final Spain defeated Germany by a single goal in Durban to progress to the World Cup Final.
It was the first time that Spain had ever gone through to the final of the World Cup while it was the second consecutive World Cup in which Germany had lost in the semi finals. The match was deadlocked until the late on when Xavi’s corner was headed home by captain Carles Puyol.
Robben’s header:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeE5PAQzBOY
Puyol’s Winner:
The third place play off took place in Port Elizabeth between Germany and Uruguay. It ended up a 3–2 win for Germany to claim third place at the World Cup for the second successive time after also finishing third at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Sami Khedira’s 82nd minute goal proved the winner for Germany.
The 2010 World Cup Final took place in Johannesburg. Spain beat the Netherlands with a goal from Andrés Iniesta four minutes from the end of extra time. English referee Howard Webb was selected to officiate the match which was marked by an unusually high number of yellow cards.
Both the Netherlands and Spain were attempting to win their first World Cup. It became the sixth final to be contested between two teams who had not won the title before after 1930, 1934, 1954, 1958, and 1978. The Netherlands had been beaten in the final in 1974 and 1978 while Spain’s best performance had been fourth place in 1950.
It was the second consecutive all European final and marked the first time a European team won the trophy outside Europe.
Here is that winning goal from Iniesta;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwADqit3dBE
