It all starts with co-hosts Mexico taking on South Africa at the famous Azteca (now known as the Estadio Banorte) in Mexico City. Co-hosted by USA and Canada, this will be the 23rd World Cup, the inaugural tournament back in 1930.
As we build up to the summer’s football fest, we take a look at the Spurs players to feature on the greatest stage of all...
Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Ledley King, Aaron Lennon
The 2010 World Cup in South Africa provided mixed emotions for our players - summed up perfectly by England, where Jermain Defoe celebrated his one and only World Cup finals goal but Ledley King was forced off at half-time in the opener against the USA, missed the rest of the tournament – and that was the last of his 21 caps.
Aaron Lennon also started the opener against the USA – a 1-1 draw – with Peter Crouch a second half substitute. That was Crouchy’s role again against Algeria, where ‘Azza’ started again in a goalless draw.
Jermain came off the bench for that one and was named in the starting XI by Fabio Capello as England needed to beat Slovenia to progress. They did just that thanks to JD’s strike, a typical Defoe goal, timing his run to perfection to get ahead of Marko Suler and convert James Milner’s cross on 23 minutes.
Defoe stayed in the starting XI for the Round of 16 tie against Germany at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, remembered for the infamous ‘ghost goal’ from Frank Lampard. Trailing 2-0, England pulled a goal back from Matthew Upson on 37 minutes and two minutes later, Lampard’s shot came off the underside of the crossbar and bounced clearly over the line. Nothing was awarded – no VAR in 2010 – and Germany went on to win 4-2.
Giovani dos Santos
It’s fair to say we didn’t see the best of Gio at Spurs – but he has legendary status with Mexico, earning 106 caps over 11 years, 2007-2018. He started all of Mexico’s matches with a 2-0 win over France the highlight in the group stages. Mexico drew against South Africa, beat France and that was enough to take them through, despite a 1-0 loss to Uruguay. They then faced Argentina, who ran out 3-1 winners in the Round of 16. Gio was voted runner-up for the FIFA Young Player of the Tournament award, which eventually went to Thomas Muller of Germany.
Wilson Palacios
A huge hit at Spurs when he joined us half-way through the 2008/09 season, powerhouse midfielder Wilson started all three of Honduras’ group fixtures in South Africa. Unfortunately, a 1-0 loss against Chile in the opener had them on the back foot – and they were then faced with eventual-winners Spain in the second match. David Villa struck both goals as Spain ran out 2-0 winners. Honduras couldn’t qualify but still had a big say – Switzerland beat Spain in the second group game, and both challenged to qualify for the knockout phase with Chile. In the end, Honduras’ 0-0 draw against the Swiss saw Spain through after they beat Chile 2-1.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Sebastien Bassong
Sebastien Bassong spoke later of the immense pride of representing an African nation in South Africa, but Cameroon were dealt a tough group alongside the Netherlands, Denmark and Japan. They needed a positive start against Japan and both Benoit and Seb started as Japan nicked it 1-0 in Bloemfontein. Both started again in a 2-1 loss against Denmark in the second game and that meant it was all over before they faced eventual finalists Holland. Benoit started this one, Seb missed out through injury and Rafa van der Vaart’s Holland ran out 2-1 winners.