The World Cup is the most watched sporting event in the world, being even more popular than the Olympics. The location of each World Cup is determined several years in advance by FIFA. South Africa was chosen to host the 2010 World Cup. This was a first for Africa as a continent, marking it as a special occasion. The opportunity was not wasted, and many organisations took advantage of this to promote their causes, including human rights and poverty charities.
The first round of the World Cup kicked off on 11 June, 2010, with a match between the hosts and Mexico. This game, which ended as a draw, began the group stage of the tournament. After two weeks of the group stage, the tournament progressed to the knockouts. Ten days later and the contenders were whittled down to only two teams that would compete for the championship in the final:
the
Netherlands and
Spain.The final game of the tournament was played – rather naturally – in Johannesburg. The fixture took place on 11 July, a month after the beginning of the primary phase of the competition. The game progressed into a full-fledged battle, with each side delivering stellar performances at either end of the pitch.
The crowd had to wait until near the end of the second-half for the game's deciding point, when Andres Iniesta took advantage of a small mistake by a Dutch defender and scored a goal. The Spanish team were naturally jubilant and, though the Dutch tried relentlessly to equalise, their efforts were ultimately futile. Spain finished the match victorious, and won their first World Cup title in history.
The victory followed their Euro 2008 win, cementing Spain as the current dominant force in international football. With Euro 2012 just around the corner, can the Spanish continue their supremacy?