Why South Africa 2010 Was The WORST (And Best) World Cup EVER

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[HITCFootball]

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[ichmagreis]

The young Germany side was by far the most exciting in the tournament. Everyone thought they would be a disaster without Ballack, but a young Müller and Özil showed everyone levels

[nox]

As a South African, it felt so lonely when it was over. It was like when your family members leave after Christmas. Sad 😔

[foxiflakes]

South Africa 2010 was my first taste of football and what made it the first sport i ever got into, being a young 6 year old American seeing Donovan's last minute goal against Algeria pulled me in and I'm never gonna stop loving this game because of it

[sabeloayabonga]

Your critics are based on big teams struggling but ignoring the bigger picture
The 2010 world cup brought people around the world to Africa to learn about African culture and South Africa did a hell of job teaching people about African culture
And for me as a 6 year old boy at the time was introduced to football

The South African World Cup had plenty of flaws

But in terms of energy, vibe and passion it compares to non.

It provide a platform that now European teams look to Africans for talent.

[thelinedrive]

South African World Cup to me was the first World Cup that truly showcased the host as much as the game. The fact we still hear vuvuzaelas all these years later show how much of South Africa’s culture has become part of the game’s fan culture.

[martinngcobo]

I like how it's assumed that all the other past world cup bids weren't corrupt.

[alistairelias]

I've been alive for 8 world cups and watched 6 of them, and 2010 is by far my most memorable. For us Africans, this was our opportunity to showcase ourselves to the world and we took that opportunity with both hands. The build-up to the tournament was INTENSE. I remember the day of the opening match, I was at university and the whole atmosphere was like the holidays had started, you could feel the excitement in the air. The whole month was a festival. Wakawaka, Wavin' Flag, Sign of a Victory, Oh Africa etc. were played on repeat, and they still rock. You had sponsor events and promotions and big screens and prizes to be won... it was an unforgettable month.

Of course not all things went well. I was disappointed by the performance of our African sides, only one made it past the group stage. The football wasn't thaaaat great, lots of great players underperformed, there were lots of empty seats even for knockout matches, and the jabulani wrecked havoc (although not as much as the video makes it out to be).

Unfortunately for us here in Tanzania, the final was ruined for us watching on national television because it coincided with the ruling party's national assembly which was nominating the candidate for the presidency for the national election later that year. The event was being shown live, and by the time the final had kicked off, the event had not concluded. So much that the president had to ask for the festivities to be cut short to allow the match to be shown. So we joined some 30 mins after the final started, with no pre-match analysis, no team news, and having missed De Jong's kung-fu kick.

[mwi]

Why is it bad when giants don't make it out of the group? This is what makes football exciting

[glenmalesa]

South Africa 🇿🇦 did not make the rules (bribes), FIFA did.

[andilehadebe]

Just leave us Africans alone we loved our 1st world cup and it will remain on our memories for ever

[raoul]

Good or bad, you can't deny that this world cup was the most memorable in recent football history

[michaelwalker]

FIFA also decided they needed to rotate between each continent, so South Africa was really the only country in Africa that could handle it in summer. This is the same group that decided playing in Qatar in June/July would be fine because they couldn't bother checking the temperatures while counting their bribes.

[mtngwane]

As a young South African (8) I was gutted that we were the first host nation in history to fail to make it through the group stages but whenever I spoke about it with other people they didn't care as much about that and were just glad that they were entertained in every other aspect.

[dadman]

Honestly this was also my first World Cup but with everything going on in and around this one I think it made it even more unforgettable, all the good and bad.

[bjehulk]

Watching Spain was great in my opinion. It was a such a unique and refreshing brand of football at the time. I disagree that their success is owed to the Jabulani considering they still wiped the floor with all opposition in Euro 2012.

[MosesMatsepane]

The 2010 FIFA World Cup was our country's happiest and most optimistic atmosphere since the dawn of democracy. I doubt we'll ever be able to replicate that level of ecstacy at a national level again. I will forever cherish those moments, I'll tell my grandkids about it when I am old. I am glad FIFA allowed us to keep the vuvuzelas, they are part of how we enjoyed football long before hosting the World Cup.

[OhyeahMrKrabz]

How do giants like Italy and France getting eliminated in the group stage make this World Cup bad? Football is exciting that way you don't know what's gonna happen

[firemansamthefull]

I wanna think about the Suárez incident - if you were representing your country and you knew you would lose if you didn't intervene, I think most would do what he did. The rules were followed and it's a bitter, bitter shame Ghana didn't go through doe smh

[gbottesini]

Suárez didn't cheat. He used the rules in his favour. He got the red card and Ghana got the PK. All by the book.