FIFA World Cup - South Africa 2010

hello again...

after a long time im posting in here...

so after 64 games being played in a time span of 31 days, the FIFA World Cup 2010 comes to an end with Spain being crowned as champions... the first Safari football world cup and the second third world cup to be held in South Africa the first being the Rugby World Cup held back in 1995 and then the Cricket World Cup in 2003...

well coming back to the topic, this world cup has been one world cup that the whole world will remember for a long time.. controversies, disappointments, tragedies, and you name it, it probably will have something to do with this edition of the world cup...

32 teams competed for the FIFA World Cup Trophy... and one team emerge as the winners with the Trophy and US$ 30 million as prize money....

on a personal view, before the tournament started, my prediction was that it would be Brazil and Argentina who would play the finals but then it was disappointment for me at the quarter finals.. but what to do... then my prediction was that it would be Uruguay v Germany but then that too was blown away in the semi's... but at last, a country that I thought had some chance which was Spain finally won.... and that too with a thrilling match... that match probably is the best match played in the world cup this year...

After narrowly missing qualification to host the 2006 world cup, South Africa was awarded the hosting rights after much "halabalo" and also a special request by former South African president and a man that made an impact in the world Nelson Mandela. After the 2006 world cup, it was said by the media that South Africa was not prepared for the world cup so the venue may be changed... but lo.. all those rumors creators would have surely been baffled after the way that the World Cup 2010 was organized.. the stadiums, the preparations, the build ups, the songs (waving flag, waka waka etc)... and especially the closing ceremony.. one that was filled with entertainment and so much technology... hats off to the South African's in organizing this event..

Next we come to the games itself.. started off on the 11th of June with a hosts South Africa playing Mexico and Uruguay playing France.. both matches ended in a draw... the hosts South Africa were expected to make an impact in the game this time like their rugby team did back in 1995 when the Rugby WC was in their country... but to the disappointment, the hosts had to leave early from group stages itself.. but then the only African country to make an impact in the tournament was Ghana who too missed their opportunity to get through to the semi's after loosing to Uruguay after they missed a very easy scoring opportunity.. amidst all this, all eyes were on Argentina who were a strong team and a favourite to win the tournament and also because they were being coached by the most controversial footballer Maradona... and yet again, after some brilliant performances in the previous matches, they went down to Germany in the quarter finals loosing 4-nil... Brazil.. another country expected to win the world cup too went down the drain this time after being beaten by the Dutch who were considered underdogs... Germany and Uruguay.. two teams who were considered good were also beaten in the semi's by two down under teams... Spain.. the 2008 European champs who were at first considered a favourite were immediately out of the scene when they were beaten by Sweden in their very first match.. but then, they went on to go and win the title and also becoming the first team to win the world cup after loosing the first match in the tournament... also this was the first time that Spain had entered the finals of the world cup.. also the second team after Germany to be able to hold the European and the World titles at the same time.. Netherlands on the other side were one team who did not have the taste of loosing until the loss in the finals.. they played their 3rd finals in the world cup series and once again were beaten... hopefully they will have some luck in Brazil in 2014.. 

coming to the controversies, there were many.. England, USA, Mexico, France and also one more country  were teams that were affected by poor refereeing... the decision of FIFA not making use of technology like in Cricket has made the game controversial where teams have been denied the right of victory.. France again made headlines with the internal controversies in the team which finally made them loose the match.. 

the ball used in the match. a new ball designed by Adidas and called the Jabulani Ball created much controversy when players started complaining that the ball was more like a normal "beach ball" than a professional football ball... but then, it was all managed well and amidst controversy, the games did play on and kick off every day...

although the tournament was o fantastic, tragedy struck at the beginning and end.. the day before the first day of the tournament, Nelson Mandela's great grand daughter passed away in a car crash while returning home from the pre-kick off concert.. and this put the South African nation in shock.. and during the finals.. few minutes before the game ended, two bombs blasted in Uganda where a large gathering of fans where watching the football match and around 60 people were killed..

and after 31 days of games, Spain where crowned as the winners of the games and also became the 8th nation to win the world cup.. a thriller of a game it was the finals with a record number of yellow cards being given and other records...

with the football fever reaching its peak, animals also got engaged in the fun with predicting the winners.. of all the animals that would have done this, two animals came into the spot light to make headlines around the world.. one was Paul the Octopus from Germany while the other was Mani the Parakeet from Singapore... Paul who initially predicted the winners of the games which Germany played, predicted the winner correctly in all instances and then also predicted the winner of the finals which also became true... Paul had also received death threats by people who wanted him for dinner after predicting that Germany will lose to Spain in the semi's which ultimately became true.. While on the other hand, Mani did a similar stunt by predicting the winners of the quarter finals and the semi finals and also the finals... Mani had predicted all the matches correctly except for 1 match until he was challenged by Paul the Octopus where both picked different teams and thus it became a  fight between the two which was ultimately won by Paul...

and so come to an end the 2010 FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa while Brazil gears up to the challenge to host the next world cup in 2014...

next big world tournaments are the 2011 Cricket World Cup in the Indian Sub Continent and the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand and then the Olympics return in 2012 in London...

off now..

hope you liked the post..

ADIOS!!!