Brazilian Defender "Tackling" Holland's Arjen RobbenThe soccer gods have never lacked a sense of humor and since its conception the World Cup has been a stage for some of the most heartbreaking, triumphant, and unexpected moments in international sports. For whatever reason, this world cup has been an especially tumultuous one. Italy and France, the two former world cup finalists were both knocked out of the first round in a humiliating fashion; New Zealand secured its first ever world cup win and tied the former world champions, managing to go home without losing a single game; England crumbled and failed to put on a single impressive performance despite its stars; North Korea stepped out of the shadow of Kim Jong Il and managed to shock the whole world by losing only 2-1 to Brazil and then buckled to concede 7 goals the next game; essentially every player featured in the Adidas and Nike ads failed to perform, with the exception of David Villa; only one African team made it out of the first round of the competition, including, for the first time in the history of the world cup, the host nation. Those events represent only a portion of the drama that have taken place in this world cup, and not mentioned in that list are many of the incredible results and performances that there have been along the way. Players such as David Villa, Diego Forlan, Kevin Prince Boateng, Mesut Ozil, and Wesley Sneijder have put on a show for the world, and sides like Uruguay, Holland, and Germany have accomplished far more than even their most loyal fans could have demanded at the start of the tournament. So much could be said about every game and every disallowed goal, and the silence of photography captures the events so much better than anything I could say. Here are a few photos from The Guardian's coverage of the tournament, there are plenty more out there so please post links to your favorite photo sites, and if you have any words to describe the utter insanity that has consumed this world cup feel free to write away.
Giovanni Van Bronckhorst celebrates after scoring one of the goal's of the tournament against Uruguay in the semi-finals.
German fans celebrating inf front of a giant screen as Germany puts its 4th goal past Argentina.
Gyan's missed penalty kick against Uruguay in the last seconds of double overtime. 
Lionel Messi taking on a Mexican Defender
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