World Cup Opens With Blunders

In only three days of action, the 2010 World Cup has provided no shortage of embarrassing, game changing blunders. By now, we are all familiar with English goalkeeper Robert Green, who was affectionately dubbed by The Sunday Times as “Greenfingers” for his slip up on a routine shot that left British soccer fans who drowned the 1-1 tie with the US nursing a worse than usual hang over this morning.

Today’s historic gaffe was provided by Serbian midfield Zdravko Kuzmanovic, who needlessly handed the ball in the 85th minute, resulting in a Ghana penalty kick by Asamoah Gyan to seal the game with a 1-0 victory. The upside to this one, of course, is that it provided the nation of Ghana with the first ever World Cup victory by an African team playing a World Cup match on African soil.

Personally, I enjoy seeing some opening round jitters at the world’s greatest celebration of soccer, and it’s even better when those mishaps result in a little embarrassment for the English national team at the hand of Team USA, as well as a wonderful landmark victory in for Ghana in World Cup history. Maybe it’s just the jabulani ball, but those heartbreaking moments in sports never seem to get old.

Sources:
Ghana’s Gyan converts penalty kick near end to edge Serbia [ESPN]
US works as a team to draw England [FOXSports]
Photo Credit: AP/Rebecca Blackwell