32 teams. 32 different stories. The 2010 FIFA World Cup was hosted by South Africa. The Cup takes place every four years, reaching televisions across the globe. Even if one isn’t interested in football, you still seem to get drawn in by the craftiness and foot work.

Being the most popular sport in the world, soccer has come a long way, from the cleats being as light as feathers to the balls becoming more resistant to the back of the net. This years World Cup sure left viewers on the edge of their seats. There were many questionable errors by refs that seemed to be given no answer, yellow and red cards being thrown in every direction. Besides the referees having a hard time, there were other conflicts that came into play like whose team will be defeated, should the vuvuzela be allowed in the stands, and which team to support. These may have been problems, but we were all together for one thing, the passion and respect for the game. Though differences in opinions had been an issue, there had to be a winner and of course that team that came in second. The runner up, the one that just fell short. The Netherlands became that one who seemed to never give up, the team who was right with Spain the entire time until the one hundred eighteenth minute struck. Thanks to Andre Iniesta, the Spanish overcame the “rough” Dutch to win 1-nil. Both teams had played the two 45-minute halves tied at nil, and were left with 30 minutes of over time. There wasn’t any sudden death aka golden goal. The orange and red players ran until the last whistle blew of this Cup. Many cried with disappointment as the Netherlands sat on the grass with heads hung low. Others glowed as they knew Spain had become the country in the midst of honor. In the beginning of this Cup, before Spain was declared as number one, before the last ball was put into place at the center of the field in South Africa, the United States still seemed to have a chance. We all know the USA were yet again beaten by Ghana, though before all this happened, games in which the US played had two denied goals because of off sides.

The US team was sighted as the ones to beat, the comeback kings. We tied England 1-1 due to keeper Green’s error, tied Slovenia (2-2), and beat Algeria 1-nil. Our future was looking almost as bright as our talented past had once looked. Everyone was relieved to make it into the round of 16, but our dreams were crushed when we couldn’t get a late goal (like the rest) to tie Ghana at two a piece to come to a shoot out. The soccer World Cup will more than likely grow as the game in the US has. As Spain holds that golden cup in their hands, other countries throughout the world will be improving upon their game to one day hold it as well. One game changes everything.