What effect the 2010 World Cup will have on local and American soccer, if any, still remains to be seen.
What is known is that more than 19 million people watched the United States versus Ghana round of 16 game on television, making it the most-watched soccer matchup in U.S. history at that point, according to the Nielsen Company.
That beats any game in the American hosted 1994 World Cup, including the U.S’s last 16 clash against Brazil, and the Italy-Brazil final which had over 18.1 million viewers.
In fact, viewing of this World Cup was up a whopping 36 per cent on 2006 up to the semifinal stage.
It is obvious that the sport is growing here, and Nielson’s vice president, Stephen Master, said the rise of social networking and virtually unlimited access to soccer is helping it thrive.
There are many other reasons, of course, but whether it can grow to a point where the United States can compete on the world stage against the superpowers in years to come remains to be seen.
And so to the top 10 moments of the 2010 World Cup. No, Paul the most famous Octopus on the planet is not included for his amazing prediction skills (he got all Germany’s seven games and the final spot on), but he probably knew that already.
1 Andres Iniesta’s tournament winner
Iniesta’s extra-time winner for Spain against the Netherlands in a somewhat disappointing World Cup final was rather apt, as he was also the game’s best player (but not the player of the tournament: that went to Diego Forlan). While the moment will be replayed for years to come, the fact that the Netherlands should have had a corner only seconds earlier but for a kick out to be given by referee Howard Webb will probably be quickly forgotten by all but the Dutch.
2 Ghana’s penalty pain
With the Uruguay-Ghana quarterfinal heading into penalty kicks, Luis Suarez intentionally handled the ball on the line, preventing a game winner by Dominic Adiyiah. Suarez was rightly sent off, and Ghana awarded the penalty, but Asamoah Gyan’s spot kick thundered off the crossbar. Uruguay went on to win the penalty shoot-out, and knock out the last remaining African nation. For drama, it couldn’t be beaten.
It's a goal! Eh, no it isn't.3 Germany v England: The goal that wasn’t
It may be the moment that finally forces FIFA to introduce goal-line technology to soccer. The ball landed a good two feet behind Germany’s goal line after England’s Frank Lampard’s strike hit the crossbar and bounced behind goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. Neither referee Jorge Larrionda nor assistant Mauricio Espinosa saw the ball cross the line, denying England the chance to make it 2-2, and thus change the dynamics of the game (although Capello’s charges still wouldn’t have won). FIFA has since said it is to reconsider the idea of using technology to ensure such controversial incidents are consigned to the garbage bin.
4 USA comeback versus Slovenia (and that disallowed goal)
Finding themselves 2-0 down at half-time to Slovenia in a first round matchup, the U.S. rallied in the second 45 minutes to tie the game 2-2 thanks to efforts from Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley. However, the matchup will be most remembered for the goal that wasn’t given, when Malian referee Koman Coulibay chalked off Maurice Edu’s volley into the net from a free kick. The official FIFA play-by-play gave the foul to Edu. Unfortunately, no moves -- other than talk about extra assistants behind each goal line -- seem to be afoot to help right such wrong decisions.
Hey Landon, you took your time!
5 Landon Donovan’s last-gasp winner
Landon Donovan justified his “greatest American player of all time” tag by slotting home the last-gasp winner against Algeria. The goal not only ensured that the U.S. progressed from Group C, but topped it too. For the sake of a nation’s health, please don’t leave it that late again!
6 The Hand of Clod
Yet another moment involving the U.S. England goalkeeper Robert Green’s calamitous error from Clint Dempsey’s strike in the Group C opener - -resulting in a 1-1 tie -- gave Bob Bradley’s troops the confidence booster it needed to move forward.
Une Catastrophe
7 French Farce
Why France announced before the World Cup that a new coach, Laurent Blanc, was to take over the reins after the tournament is a move that still beggars belief.
Not because there’s anything wrong with Blanc, but because such decisions can only lead to a troubled dressing room. And coach Raymond Domenech already had poor relations with certain members of the squad.
The ‘Hand of Gaul’ incident, when Thierry Henry handled the ball twice in a scoring sequence against Ireland in the play-offs, sent France to South Africa and karma paid them back by the bucketload.
A tie against Uruguay doesn’t actually look so bad now given the great run ‘La Celeste’ had itself, but the wheels were falling off the cart and would part spectacularly for all the world to see in what can only be described as a shameful and farcical moment in French soccer history.
Midway through a comprehensive 2-0 defeat at the hands of Mexico, striker Nicolas Anelka allegedly insulted the coach, which led to his being sent home. The players then decided to protest by refusing to train. And while they turned up for their final match, against hosts South Africa, another defeat sent them straight home, where President Nicolas Sarkozy was convening a high-level meeting to figure out what went wrong. Duh!
8 Italy exit
When Italy was defeated by North Korea in 1966, the team was pelted with tomatoes on its return home. This time round, it was the Kiwis who contributed to the Azzurri’s woes, as the New Zealanders held the reigning champion to a 1-1 tie. It then lost to Slovakia 3-2, ensuring an early flight home. Coupled with France's “au revoir,” it meant that for the first time ever, neither of the previous tournament's finalists got into the last 16 at the subsequent World Cup.
It's going in, it's going in ...
9 Jabulani ball
Okay, moments rather than ‘moment,’ but how can you leave it out? Translated from Zulu to English, Jabulani means “bring happiness to everybody,” but it didn’t exactly provide too much joy to goalkeepers, who described it as a “supermarket” and “supernatural” ball, while there were145 total goals (2.26 per game), despite a lot more shots than previous tournaments.
C'mon, louder!
10 Vuvuzelas
A rather long moment, spanning the entire tournament, the vuvuzela made this World Cup the most cacophonous in history. There were calls by various football associations, players and broadcasting companies to have the noisy ear splitting plastic horns, a sound akin to an enormous swarm of bees, banned but FIFA said it was happy to have them at the tournament as long as they were not used as weapons, or blown during national anthems.
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