City's World Cup Years: 2010 | OneFootball

The 2010 FIFA World Cup was hosted by South Africa from 11 June to 11 July and featured several City players – and thousands of vuvuzelas!

A colourful fiesta of noise, sunshine and controversy, it was a welcome and long overdue chapter in the history of the tournament, which would end with a future Manchester City legend joining the Club just three days after becoming World Cup winner.

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Let’s have a look at how our boys got on…

Gareth Barry

Gareth Barry would end the tournament having played in three of England’s four matches.

The midfielder missed the opening group game against the USA which ended 1-1.

He was back for the 0-0 draw with Algeria and Fabio Capello’s side continued to disappoint on the biggest stage and Barry played in the face-saving 1-0 win over Slovenia that set up a Round of 16 clash with Germany.

England were 2-0 down when Matthew Upson halved the deficit and 60 second later, a thunderbolt from Frank Lampard struck the underside of the crossbar before the ball was cleared.

However – and the parallels with 1966 were more than ironic – TV replays clearly showed the ball had crossed the line by a good 10 inches or so.

With no VAR, the game continued with England feeling suitably hard done to – and two quick goals from Thomas Muller midway through the second-half gave Germany a 4-1 victory.

Shaun Wright-Phillips

SWP was in his second spell as a City player when he was selected for England’s World Cup squad.

He would appear from the bench in three out of the four games the Three Lions were involved in, but like team-mate Barry, that adventure ended at the Round of 16 stage.

Nigel de Jong

It was a case of so near yet so far for our popular Dutchman.

De Jong – he of the crunching tackle – was an integral part of the Netherlands drive to the World Cup final.

After seeing off Japan, Denmark and Cameroon, the Oranje beat Slovakia in the Round of 16 and then Brazil in the quarter-finals – both by a scoreline of 2-1.

De Jong’s yellow card against Brazil was his second of the tournament, meaning he missed the semi-final win over Uruguay, but was back for the final.

And our midfield enforcer left his mark in the aforementioned final against Spain – literally – as his high challenge on Xabi Alonso was only judged to be a bookable offence by referee Howard Webb.

Again, with no VAR, what would today be a certain dismissal went unpunished, though Spain would score the only goal deep into extra time as Andreas Iniesta scored to secure La Roja  - who had David Silva among their 23-man squad -a first ever World Cup triumph.

Kolo Toure

There was to be no African dream come true for Kolo Toure’s Ivory Coast.

Playing alongside his brother Yaya – yet to sign for the Blues – The Elephants held Portugal 0-0 before being beaten 3-1 by Brazil.

A 3-0 win over North Korea ended the group stage, but it was Portugal and Brazil who progressed.

Kolo (and Yaya) played all three games.

Vladimir Weiss

Vladimir Weiss – under the watchful of eye of Vladimir Weiss, Slovakian national coach and same-named father – had only four appearances for City by the time the 2010 World Cup began.

He would play in the opening game against New Zealand – a 1-1 draw – and the second group game against Paraguay which ended in a 0-2 loss.

Weiss would miss a dramatic 3-2 win over Italy in the final group game but was back for the Round of 16 defeat to the Netherlands.

Roque Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz was a second-half sub in the 1-1 draw with Italy but started the 2-0 win over Slovakia.

The former Blackburn Rovers man played in the 0-0 draw with New Zealand, which saw Paraguay progress to play Japan in the Round of 16.

He started a game that would end 0-0 after extra time but was substituted before the successful 5-3 penalty shoot out that saw his nation into the last eight.

The Paraguayans journey was ended by a late David Villa goal in the quarter-finals, with Santa Cruz a late second half sub.

Carlos Tevez

Last, but no means least, Carlos Tevez.

Our cult hero warrior of a forward was one of Argentina’s leading lights at South Africa 2010.

He started in the 1-0 win over Nigeria and the 4-1 win over South Korea but was missing from the 2-0 win over Greece where future City team-mate Sergio Aguero deputised.

Tevez then starred in the 3-1 Round of 16 win over Mexico, scoring twice to set up a quarter final clash with Germany.

He played his fourth game of the World Cup in that quarter-final clash, but it ended in a humbling 4-0 loss for La Albiceleste.

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