The 2010 FIFA World Cup™ broke new ground simply by being held on African soil, and with Spain joining the elite club of world champions it delivered two major firsts in the history of the game. Those were the most obvious milestones set at South Africa 2010, but the whole tournament was bursting with unprecedented events in a whole range of areas, from team results to player landmarks. FIFA.com now takes you through a full list of firsts from the global showcase.
Result firstsSlovenia and Greece both picked up their maiden FIFA World Cup wins in South Africa, with Slovenia downing Algeria 1-0 thanks to a Robert Koren goal and their fellow Europeans seeing off Nigeria 2-1.
Japan also enjoyed a breakthrough win of sorts as their 2-1 victory against Cameroon constituted their first ever FIFA World Cup finals success away from home, eight years after they defeated Tunisia 2-0 in Osaka.
As for New Zealand, their 1-1 opening draw with Slovakia earned them their very first FIFA World Cup point. Having finally opened their account following three straight reverses in 1982, the Kiwis maintained their momentum by securing a 1-1 draw with Italy and a goalless stalemate with Paraguay.
Goal firstsDimitrios Salpingidis’s equaliser against Nigeria finally ended Greece’s goal drought at this level, his strike coming after 404 minutes and over four games without a single effort. There was a first for Daniel Agger too, but the Denmark defender would doubtless prefer not to be on this list as his own goal against the Netherlands proved his country’s first on the global stage. In another unwanted precedent, Denmark were also on the receiving end of Japan’s first ever three-goal haul in a FIFA World Cup finals outing.
Adding a further deed to his list of exploits, Didier Drogba became the first African player to score against Brazil in six meetings between A Seleção and teams from the African Zone. Meanwhile, on a slightly more esoteric note, midfielder Michael Bradley became the first FIFA World Cup scorer to be coached by his father when he equalised for the United States in their 2-2 draw with Slovenia.
Penalty firstsVladimir Stojkovic can pride himself on being the first Serbian goalkeeper to have kept out a penalty at a FIFA World Cup courtesy of his save to deny Germany’s Lukas Podolski. In contrast, David Villa became the first Spanish player to miss a spot-kick in the tournament when he failed to register against Honduras.
The new world champions can nonetheless lay claim to a more desirable landmark as Iker Casillas became the first goalkeeper to stop penalties in two different FIFA World Cups. The Real Madrid No1 first thwarted the Republic of Ireland’s Ian Harte at Korea/Japan 2002 before frustrating Oscar Cardozo of Paraguay in the quarter-finals.
Mirroring that feat, Asamoah Gyan entered the history books as the first player to miss spot-kicks in separate editions of the competition, following up his failed effort against the Czech Republic at Germany 2006 with another fruitless attempt against Uruguay in the last eight.
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The 2010 FIFA World Cup finished with some statistics or data that never has passed, the most important were...First Points and Victory*Slovenia and Greece won for the first time in their history: Slovenia beated to Algeria 1-0 and Greece (2004 European Cup Champions) defeated Nigeria 2-1.* Japan won for the first time, out of his land, (2-1 Cameroon), 8 years later they won in Osaka, Japan in the 2002 Korea Japan World Cup.* New Zealand reached their first point in the history of the country in a world cup (Draw 1-1 with Slovakia)and they were the only team that did not lose in the tournament.Goal First* Dimitrios Salpingidis scorer for Greece to finish a drought of goals of the european team (404 minutes).* Danniel Agger scored his first goal too... but against his own team, Denmark!* Denmark is the first team that received 3 goals of Japan!* Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast) became the first african player to score against Brazil (6 games between "The Canarinha" and Africans Teams).* Michael Bradley is the first player that score a goal been training for his father (He plays with USA and his Father is the Coach of this selection).Penalty First:*Vladimir Stojkovic became the first goalkeeper from Serbia that stop a penalty (it was against the german Lukas Podolsky).*David Villa is the first player from Spain that miss a penalty in a World Cup.* Iker Casillas is the first goalkeeper that stop penalties in two differents World Cup (Korea Japan 2002 against Ireland, and South Africa 2010 Against Paraguay).* In Comparison.. Asamoah Gyan is the first player that fails penalties in two different World Cup (Germany 2006 Against Czech Republic and this ocassion against Uruguay in final quarters).
