All times listed are South African Standard Time (UTC+2). The
knockout stage comprised the 16 teams that advanced from the group stage of the tournament. There were four rounds of matches, with each round eliminating half of the teams entering that round. The successive rounds were the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final. There was also a play-off to decide third and fourth place. For each game in the knockout stage, any draw at 90 minutes was followed by thirty minutes of
extra time; if scores were still level, there was a
penalty shoot-out to determine who progressed to the next round.
Bracket Round of 16 In this round, each group winner (A to H) was paired against the runner-up from another group. • South American teams again performed strongly in the round of 16, with four teams advancing to the quarter-finals including
Brazil who defeated fellow South Americans
Chile. • European teams performed even more strongly in the sense that all matches between a European and a non-European team were won by the European team. In the previous edition (2006), they had also achieved this. • England's 4–1 loss to Germany was their biggest ever margin of defeat at a World Cup finals. It was also the first time that a World Cup finals match between these two traditional rivals had a decisive result in regulation time, their
four previous meetings all being tied at 90 minutes; two were settled in extra time, one in a penalty shoot-out, and one remained a draw as part of a group stage. • Ghana defeated the United States after extra time to become the third African team to reach the last eight (after
Cameroon in
1990 and
Senegal in
2002), and the only African team to have achieved both a top 8 finish and a separate top 16 finish (in 2006). • Paraguay and Ghana reached the quarter-finals for the first time. The round was marked by some
controversial referees' decisions, including: • A disallowed goal by
England in their 4–1 loss against Germany, where the shot by
Frank Lampard was seen to cross substantially over the goal line when shown on television broadcast replays. • An allowed goal by
Argentina in their 3–1 win over Mexico, where Argentine striker
Carlos Tevez was seen to be offside when shown on television broadcast replays, which were shown inside the stadium shortly after the incident. FIFA President
Sepp Blatter took the unusual step of apologising to England and Mexico for the decisions that went against them, saying: "Yesterday I spoke to the two federations directly concerned by referees' mistakes [...] I apologised to England and Mexico. The English said thank you and accepted that you can win some and you lose some and the Mexicans bowed their head and accepted it." Blatter also promised to re-open the discussion regarding devices which monitor possible goals and make that information immediately available to match officials, saying: "We will naturally take on board the discussion on technology and have the first opportunity in July at the business meeting." Spain reached the final four for the first time since 1950 after a 1–0 win over Paraguay. Uruguay, the only South American team to reach the semi-finals, overcame Ghana in a
penalty shoot-out after a 1–1 draw in which Ghana missed a penalty at the end of extra time after
Luis Suárez handled the ball on the line. ---- ---- ----
Semi-finals The Netherlands qualified for the final for the third time with a 3–2 win over Uruguay. Spain reached their first ever final with a 1–0 victory over Germany. As a result, it was the first World Cup final not to feature at least one of Brazil, Italy, Germany or Argentina. It also guaranteed that there would be a new World Cup champion, as neither Spain nor the Netherlands had won the tournament before. ----
Match for third place Germany defeated Uruguay 3–2 to secure third place. Germany holds the record for most third-place finishes in the World Cup (4), while Uruguay holds the record for most fourth-place finishes (3).
Final The final was held on 11 July 2010 at
Soccer City,
Johannesburg.
Spain defeated the
Netherlands 1–0, with an extra time goal from
Andrés Iniesta. Iniesta scored the latest winning goal in a FIFA World Cup final (116th minute). The win gave Spain their first World Cup title, becoming the eighth team to win it. This made them the first new winner without home advantage since Brazil in 1958, and the first team to win the tournament after having lost their opening game. Iniesta finally broke the deadlock in extra time, scoring a volleyed shot from a pass by
Cesc Fàbregas. This result marked the first time that two different teams from the same continent had won successive World Cups (following Italy in 2006), and saw Europe reaching 10 World Cup titles, surpassing South America's nine titles. Spain became the first team since West Germany in 1974 to win the World Cup as
European champions. The result also marked the first time that a European nation had won a World Cup that was not hosted on European soil. A closing ceremony was held before the final, featuring singer
Shakira. Afterwards, the former South African President
Nelson Mandela made a brief appearance on the pitch, wheeled in by a motorcart. ==Statistics==