world cup 2010

The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the nineteenth FIFA World Cup and was held in Germany from 11 June to 11 July 2010. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be hosted on the continent of Africa. The tournament was won by Spain, claiming their first title, beating the Netherlands 1-0 after extra time in the final at Soccer City, Johannesburg.


Host selection

Africa was chosen as the host for the 2010 World Cup as part of a then FIFA policy to rotate the event among football confederations. Interest was expressed by Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and a joint bid from Libya and Tunisia.

Following the decision of the FIFA Executive Committee not to allow co-hosted tournaments, Tunisia withdrew from the bidding process and Libya's solo bid was discounted.

A FIFA Executive Meeting in Zurich on 15 May 2004 South Africa won the right to host the event receiving 14 votes whilst Morocco received 10 votes and Egypt no votes.

Two hundred and five1 countries entered the qualifying competition.

Hosts, South Africa, qualified automatically whilst the remaining 31 places, were allocated with 13 to Europe (UEFA), four to South America (CONMEBOL), three to the North and Central American and Caribbean (CONCACAF), five to Africa (CAF) and four to Asia (AFC) whilst one qualifier from the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) would face one team from the AFC qualifiers in an intercontinental play off and one qualifier from CONMEBOL would face a qualifier from CONCACAF for the final two places.


Qualifying

Fifty three teams entered the European qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The teams were divided into nine groups; eight groups of six teams and one group of five teams. The group winners would qualify whilst the six best runners-up would advance to the UEFA play-offs.

Wales were placed in Pot D as fourth seeds, and were drawn in Group 4 alongside Germany, Russia, Finland, Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein. This would be Wales' first meeting with Liechtenstein.


Uefa qualifying Group 4


no.datescorescorers (wales)venue 
 06/09/2008Liechtenstein 0-6 Germany Rheinpark Stadion, VaduzWCQ
56206/09/2008Wales 1-0 AzerbaijanVokesMillennium Stadium, CardiffWCQ
 10/09/2008Azerbaijan 0-0 Liechtenstein Tofik Bakhramov, BakuWCQ
 10/09/2008Finland 3-3 Germany Olympiastadion, HelsinkiWCQ
56310/09/2008Russia 2-1 WalesLedleyLokomotiv Stadium, MoscowWCQ
 11/10/2008Finland 1-0 Azerbaijan Olympiastadion, HelsinkiWCQ
 11/10/2008Germany 2-1 Russia Signal Iduna Park, DortmundWCQ
56411/10/2008Wales 2-0 LiechtensteinEdwards, ogMillennium Stadium, CardiffWCQ
56515/10/2008Germany 1-0 Wales Borussia-Park, MönchengladbachWCQ
 15/10/2008Russia 3-0 Finland Lokomotiv Stadium, MoscowWCQ
 28/03/2009Germany 4-0 Liechtenstein Zentralstadion, LeipzigWCQ
 28/03/2009Russia 2-0 Azerbaijan Luzhniki Stadium, MoscowWCQ
56828/03/2009Wales 0-2 Finland Millennium Stadium, CardiffWCQ
 01/04/2009Liechtenstein 0-1 Russia Rheinpark Stadion, VaduzWCQ
56901/04/2009Wales 0-2 Germany Millennium Stadium, CardiffWCQ
57106/06/2009Azerbaijan 0-1 WalesEdwardsTofik Bakhramov, BakuWCQ
 06/06/2009Finland 2-1 Liechtenstein Olympiastadion, HelsinkiWCQ
 10/06/2009Finland 0-3 Russia Olympiastadion, HelsinkiWCQ
 12/08/2009Azerbaijan 0-2 Germany Tofik Bakhramov, BakuWCQ
 05/09/2009Azerbaijan 1-2 Finland Lankaran City Stadium, LankaranWCQ
 05/09/2009Russia 3-0 Liechtenstein Petrovsky Stadium, Saint PetersburgWCQ
 09/09/2009Germany 4-0 Azerbaijan AWD-Arena, HanoverWCQ
 09/09/2008Liechtenstein 1-1 Finland Rheinpark Stadion, VaduzWCQ
57309/09/2009Wales 1-3 RussiaCollinsMillennium Stadium, CardiffWCQ
57410/10/2009Finland 2-1 WalesBellamyOlympiastadion, HelsinkiWCQ
 10/10/2009Liechtenstein 0-2 Azerbaijan Rheinpark Stadion, VaduzWCQ
 10/10/2009Russia 0-1 Germany Luzhniki Stadium, MoscowWCQ
 14/10/2009Azerbaijan 1-1 Russia Tofik Bakhramov, BakuWCQ
 14/10/2009Germany 1-0 Finland HSH Nordbank Arena, HamburgWCQ
57514/10/2009Liechtenstein 0-2 WalesVaughan, RamseyRheinpark Stadion, VaduzWCQ

Group standings
  PWDLFAPts
1.Germany1082026526
2.Russia1071219622
3.Finland10532141418
4.Wales1040691212
5.Azerbaijan101274145
6.Liechtenstein100282232

Wales and the 2010 World Cup

Wales were placed in Pot D as fourth seeds, and were drawn in Group 4 alongside Germany, Russia, Finland, Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein. This would be Wales' first meeting with Liechtenstein.

Following a home win against Azerbaijan, a missed penalty by Gareth Bale proved costly in Wales' second match as Russia scored a late winner in Moscow meaning Wales returned home empty handed.

The game in Moscow proved noteable as Wrexham's Steve Evans became the first non-league player to play for Wales since 1930.

Only 12,500 fans turned out at the Millennium Stadium to witness an uninspiring victory over Liechtenstein and Wales' hopes of qualification were all but extinguished with a 0-1 defeat to Germany four days later.

Defeats at home to Germany and Russia sandwiched a victory over Azerbaijan in Baku which saw Wales field their youngest ever side for a competitive international but defeat at home to Finland meant Wales' hopes of even finishing third in the group were over.


Players used during qualifying

Wales used a total of 30 players during the qualifying campaign with no player playing in every minute of every game, however Chris Gunter played some part in all 10 matches.

Wrexham's Steve Evans became the first non-league player to play for Wales since 1930 when winning his seventh and final cap in Moscow. Brian Stock won his first cap in the home defeat to Russia.

Carl Robinson won his 50th cap during the home match against Liechtenstein.


PlayerAZERUSLIEGERFINGERAZERUSFINLIE
Gareth Bale909090909090  9084
Craig Bellamy  829090  9090 
Simon Church      82  90
James Collins  8909090 909090
David Cotterill     36    
Simon Davies909090909090  62 
Neal Eardley      90 73
Rob Earnshaw61   199070   
Jermaine Easter         90
David Edwards7276907654 90909081
Ched Evans29293114 28    
Steve Evans 14        
Carl Fletcher9090567664     
Danny Gabbidon       74  
Chris Gunter90909086903690909087
Wayne Hennessey909090909090909090 
Owain Tudur Jones      8   
Andy King         9
Jason Koumas89 909090     
Joe Ledley9090  71909090  
Craig Morgan90909090 5490  90
Boaz Myhill         90
Lewin Nyatanga    90 90 836
Aaron Ramsey    369090909090
Sam Ricketts 45 4 54 90  
Carl Robinson145341426     
Brian Stock       90  
David Vaughan        9090
Sam Vokes186151  62201628 
Ashley Williams90909090 9090909090

Notes

1Of the 205 countries who entered, Bhutan, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Guam, Papua New Guinea and Sao Tome e Principe withdrew without playing a single match. Ethiopia were later disqualified despite playing four matches.