World Cup 2010 In Pictures

The 2010 World Cup is over and what a month it has been. Spain are newly crowned Champions and the rest of the world must wait four years before staking another claim for the sport’s most prestigious honour. Take a look at our picture review of the tournament and let us know what you thought of the action on and off the pitch.

The first World Cup to be held on African soil kicked off on June 11th in Soccer City. South Africa have been great World Cup hosts and the tournament has been a huge success…

Despite enjoying home support, the Africans haven’t been very good on the pitch… South Africa, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon all went out in the group stage.

Only Ghana were left to fly the flag for their continent. And boy did they do it with pride. But a moment of injustice that would change the course of the tournament saw Ghana miss out on being the first African nation to reach the World Cup semi-final.

For a while it looked as though it would be a World Cup dominated by South America… Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay all breezed into the quarter-finals.

But then the Europeans took over – Germany thrashed Argentina, the Netherlands overcame Brazil, and Spain edged Paraguay – producing three semi-finalists from Europe.

Quite a turnaround as supposed football heavyweights England, Italy and France had tamely surrendered earlier in the tournament. The French players, in particular, made a mockery of themselves and their country.

Asia had their moments. South Korea and Japan, who came second in Group A and E respectively, advanced to the Round of 16 but narrowly missed out on the quarter-finals.

Disappointments? England, and especially Wayne Rooney who didn’t score. Kaka didn’t get a goal, nor did Messi or Nicolas Anelka who was sent home.

There were the usual shed load of refereeing inconsistencies. Mexico were robbed of a blatant offside call in their quarter-final against Argentina and of course there was Frank Lampard‘s ‘goal’ against Germany.

Finally, congratulations to newly crowned World Champions Spain. The current European Champions become the first nation to ever raise the World Cup after losing their first group match.