From that moment in Zurich when FIFA announced that South Africa would host the African continent’s first World Cup; the stage was arguably set for a number of World Cup “firsts”.
During the first round of the tournament, commentators were thriving on mentioning one monumental moment after another.
Slovakia contested in a World cup game for the first time as an independent nation against New Zealand while Slovenia won its first world cup point in the last gasp victory against Algeria.
In the last game of Group D, Kevin - Prince Boateng of Ghana and Jerome Boateng of Germany marked the first time that brothers played against each other in the tournament’s Eighty (80) year history.
While earlier World Cups have been graced by pairs of brothers featuring in the same national squad, Wilson, Johnny and Jerry Palacios of Honduras created a unique piece of history as the first trio to be listed in the same World Cup squad.
South Africa created less enviable history as the first host nation to be knocked out in the first round, while the United States took pride in topping a World Cup group for the first time since 1930. Ghana made it to the quarter finals for the first time in its very short World Cup history.
If the endless list of “firsts” at the inception of the tournament created a sense of expectation that we would have a first time World Cup winner, this was quickly diminished as we progressed through the second round.
After all the optimism the United States team had generated with its strong finishes to a series of first round games, they must have been hit with a sense of déjà vu when the final score read 1:2 to Ghana in the next round, the same score line of their last World Cup meeting in 2006.
When England faced Germany for the fifth time in World Cup history, not even their vastly superior experience would help them overcome an opponent that has consistently had their number since England’s famous 1966 triumph in the final.
Continuing with the familiar run, Argentina beat Mexico just like it did in 2002 and South Korea failed to win its first knock out game away from home soil.
So what trend is likely to prevail at the last hurdle and should guide our predictions on who will win World Cup 2010?
Of all quarter finalists, only Spain, Ghana, Paraguay and Netherlands have never won the World Cup.
Many predict that one of the most successful World Cup nations in Brazil or Germany will prevail. That no European team has ever lifted the World Cup on a foreign continent may lead many to quickly place their expectations on Brazil but this is quickly diluted by the fact that only two World Cups have been played outside Europe or South America.
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