The FIFA World Cup 2010 was the first World Cup to be held in the African continent. The total prize money on offer was USD 420 million, with the winner getting USD 30 million and the runners up getting USD 24 million. This was also the first time FIFA made payments to the domestic clubs of the players who were playing for their national teams at the World Cup. Something about previous claims for compensation, for the costs of the injuries suffered by the players on international duty. Football, I tell you!
This World Cup belonged to the Jabulani and the Vuvuzela. This World Cup was about the Wavin’ Flag. Not often do you get to see a song by K’naan become more popular than a song by Shakira. ‘This time for Africa’, it seems. Ask Luiz Suarez, he made sure this time it wouldn’t be for Africa, as he single-handedly (pun intended) stopped Ghana from scoring in the last minute of extra time in the quarter-final stage of the tournament. He probably decided to try his hand at volleyball, since he figured Uruguay were going out of the football tournament anyway.
Italy came into the tournament as defending champions. Well, neither did they defend, nor did they play like champions. They couldn’t even make it out of the group stages, finishing at the bottom of their group with 2 points and a goal difference of MINUS ONE. This performance was in stark contrast to the one in World Cup 2006. Pirlo probably forgot to play the PlayStation. That has to be it.
“I spent the afternoon of Sunday, July 9, 2006 in Berlin sleeping and playing the PlayStation. In the evening, I went out and won the World Cup.” – Andrea Pirlo
