Final week we reported that Twitter saw a record number of Tweets-per-second (or TPS) following the Lakers win over the Celtics from the deciding game on the NBA Championship. That event generated 3,085 TPS for the reason that match ended. On an average morning, Twitter sees about 750 TPS and 65 million total Tweets a morning. But with the Earth Cup causing massive site visitors to Twitter, this record was bound for being short-lived. Today, Twitter announced that Japan’s 3-1 victory around Denmark yesterday resulted in three,283 TPS.

Of course, Twitter cautioned that it is hard to pinpoint any records set this week on the single World Cup online game due to the fact quite a few are staying played simultaneously. Apparently, the Netherlands/Cameroon match ended six minutes prior for the Japan/Denmark gaming. And total numbers, Twitter says, ended up fairly similar to the 1st week when only just one gaming was being played at a time.

Very last week the all time highs have been in terms of Tweets-per-second took place right after plans were scored in the following games: Japan scores ın opposition to Cameroon on June 14 in their 1-0 victory (a couple of,940 TPS), Brazil scores their 1st aim against North Korea within their 2-1 June 14 victory (a couple of,928 TPS) and Mexico ties South Africa within their June 11 match (a couple of,704 TPS).

Alas, being a result of this high traffic to Twitter, the network has suffered a considerable amount of downtime. Along with the downtime even caused Twitter to reschedule its ‘oauthcalypse’ for August mainly because in the heavy usage during the Globe Cup.


Two teams, one area. For the first time this Entire world Cup, two teams will play a single yet another with the result with the match and that gaming alone determining existence and death.

Japan are going to be the happier of the two heading in, having a stingy defensive performance in opposition to the Dutch, the only blemish however yet another goalkeeping error. To the second straight match they have been defensively great, continually turning away Oranje advances. Luckily that’s all they’ll need to have – a tie will do – simply because the attack is improving, but still limp.

Denmark will probably be less pleased, even if they gave the neutrals one of several finest shows South Africa has offered but. In stark contrast to Japan, the Danish defense was offering up holes the size of Greenland – they ended up just fortunate Cameroon have been performing the exact same, eventually falling for the blazing speed of Dennis Rommedahl and friends.

A defense with tiny assault and an attack a disappointing defense. The Earth Cup at its finest.


It all experienced to appear to an end eventually but losing on penalties is often a sad way to go out. Soon after a 0-0 draw where it looked like nobody would rating even if they played forever it was the sole solution.

Takeshi Okada again named an unchanged side meaning Keisuke Honda up front. Japan produced a couple of odds near the commence, but the go with soon settled into quite a defensive model. Japan sat deep as we expected, but Paraguay aren’t precisely an open and expansive staff either so attacking was kept to a minimum.

Paraguay designed some very good openings notably when Lucas Barrios got past his markers but his shot was well saved. Paraguay were also notable for snuffing out Japanese counter-attacks with a string of niggly fouls, but that was much more or much less expected.

Japan’s had a handful of lengthy range odds in the 1st half, notably from Honda and Daisuke Matsui who rattled the cross bar from distance…the similar cross bar which would break Japanese hearts several hours later.

The 2nd half had number of odds as being the game descended to the stalemate a lot of experienced predicted, and extra time wasn’t a lot different.

As it went on a penalty shoot-out became more or much less an inevitability, due to the fact neither staff ended up truly willing to risk anything at all to go for your win. That may be the actual disappointment from this complement for me – the reality that Japan have gone out with out actually going for victory.

Yes you do need to have to be pragmatic in defence as well, but that will probably be a single regret from an otherwise memorable tournament for Japan. They experienced bursts forward early inside the complement but these petered out for the reason that fear of leaving gaps in the again was the overriding thought.

But I don’t would like to complain as well a great deal – this was the stop of a road that was longer than any of us imagined and Japan have given us some fantastic moments to cherish.

Quite late on there was an excellent opening when Keiji Tamada broke as a result of, the ball then breaking to Shinji Okazaki who back-heeled it back to Tamada. With Kengo Nakamura waiting nearby though, Tamada couldn’t discover him and also the likelihood experienced gone.

As with the penalties, those who scored on both sides did so with incredibly very good location kicks, Honda currently being especially cool when having to rating to keep Japan alive. Eiji Kawashima got close to one penalty (Paraguay’s subsequent I feel) however the top quality on the kicks left him minor likelihood.

So it absolutely was left to Yuichi Komano to get the fall guy hitting the cross bar with his penalty, previous to Oscar Cardozo sealed the win for Paraguay, and Japan are out.

A disappointing go with and also a disappointing conclude to what has been a successful tournament for Japan. Whether or not you think Japan got his far by luck or by excellent planning, it can’t be denied that reaching the previous 16 was a big action for this squad. Heading 1 even more was a action as well far regrettably so Japan now head for residence.

Takeshi Okada mentioned afterwards…

“It’s very tough to narrow down 1 single cause why we were definitely not equipped to score. We’re not a group which can score several ambitions and we have to take just about every chance we get but we were definitely not capable to accomplish so.”

“When I look back again at what I could have carried out to the players, because the head coach I ought to are already a lot more insistent on winning. In terms of how we played, I have no regrets. No regrets at all. The players are actually really proud at staying Japanese and representing Asia as being a complete.”


Slightly contradictory that previous bit – could were more insistent on winning, but also no regrets about how they performed.

For Okada of course, this is the stop with the line too. He wasn’t well-known beforehand and even now isn’t with many, but he has taken Japan further more than ever before…at least 30 minutes and also a handful of penalties further than ever previous to, and for that he deserves some credit – in particular in view of how bad things ended up just prior to the Earth Cup.

But the Okada factor is usually a complete other discussion, and I’ll get into that inside coming days surely, but for now Takeshi’s final word…

“I really do not consider I've anything left to complete now.”

JFA President Motoaki Inukai, who backed Okada about the eve from the tournament added…

“It’s disappointing. There’s nothing we can do if we had been outdone from the 90 minutes. But when we have been outdone soon after reaching the shootout, it really hurts.”

Seconded…it truly hurts!

Goalie Eiji Kawashima was understandably frustrated at not getting capable to save any in the Paraguayan penalties…

“I regret it mainly because issues would have gone the other way if I stopped any of the kicks. I am disappointed because we wanted to win as quite a few matches as possible.”

Makoto Hasebe, Japan’s captain, looked back with pride around the tournament and looked ahead on the work nonetheless to do…

“Our strike has improved game by complement. But we have to raise the level of our person skills as a way to fight the rest of the earth.”

I discover it quite pleasing that he’s previously searching at what Japan need if they are to progress towards future level.


But I’ll leave the last word towards man who came to the tournament with the hopes of country resting on him, and who in this tournament has emerged being a genuine star from the future, Keisuke Honda who like Hasebe is previously focusing on what Japan needs to complete to progress inside future…

“We couldn’t attain our objective and we ought to take it seriously. I’m truly frustrated personally. We need to improve our individual skills from now on. But existence in football will go on. Everybody of us has arrive to know what we badly have to have at this tournament. And we have to sort it out from the up coming four years to arrive. We have to show the entire world that we can fight much more aggressively.”

From the coming days I’ll reflect within the tournament like a complete for Japan, and what comes subsequent, but for now it is a sad morning but Japan could be proud of what they’ve achieved – it had been just a step as well far inside the conclude.



The face of defeat was red, the eyes wet, the gaze downcast. Yuichi Komano made a slow, sad walk by way of a media gauntlet behind Loftus Versfeld Stadium recognized because the Mixed Zone.

But there was absolutely nothing mixed about his emotions. Komano was distraught, a Blue Samurai too blue to speak, hunting as if he'd let a whole country down.

The Japanese defender's penalty kick towards Paraguay slammed off the crossbar, the sole miss within the 2010 Globe Cup's very first overtime shootout. The South Americans advanced to the quarterfinal, 5-3 on PKs, their Cinderella story intact, though Japan's great operate was halted by mere inches.

That's the sometimes-terrible beauty of this event. A complete earth watches being a man gives everything he has for two hours, then sees all that effort melt away inside the instant that a round piece of plastic hurtles into a metal pipe.

As much as that moment, Komano experienced been one of the shining lights from the match up. He as well as the rest on the Japanese defense, especially back-line mate Marcus Tulio Tanaka, successfully defused each and every strike from the supposedly superior Paraguayan side.

Komano sprinted across the field from his perfect again location to calmly dispatch a risky Paraguayan counterattack in the 35th minute, and intercepted many extended balls. More than that, he produced himself an offensive threat all online game, launching a risky shot from the third minute and setting up Japanese scoring possibilities with forward runs and nifty passes to roving midfielder Keisuke Honda.

Japan was faster, far more creative and defended greater than Paraguay to the whole complement, but just couldn't discover the mission.

Nevertheless in spite of the ending, the story of the Japanese crew wasn't a tearjerker. For two weeks, it had been a roaring very good time. The U.S. wasn't the sole baseball-loving economic giant whose soccer group captured the country's imagination.

Other than the Blue Samurai's coach, Takeshi Okada, who was laughed at when he stated his crew would make the semifinals, nobody predicted Japan to finish greater than final in its first-round group, let alone make the subsequent round. Least of all of the Japanese.

Japan's staff qualified out of a weak Asian federation and did nothing at all in the run-up towards Planet Cup to inspire confidence. Tulio, a half-Brazilian, half-Japanese defender who loves generating prolonged dribbling runs, scored an personal aim in a friendly versus England and broke Didier Drogba's arm in the future just one ın opposition to Ivory Coast.

But Japan's luck changed when the tournament began. The Blue Samurai beat Cameroon to open Group E action, played the Netherlands hard inside a 1-0 loss, and tossed heavily favored Denmark away from the tournament with a 3-1 rout in the group finale.

Amazing cost-free kick ambitions from Honda and Yasuhito Endo against the Danes, and a swift, relentless style of play throughout the first round, captured the imagination of fans in South Africa. That stellar play also sent fans in Japan into a soccer-induced frenzy not seen considering that the country performed host on the World Cup along with South Korea in 2002.

Some 41 percent with the nation watched the Denmark match, despite the simple fact that it ended at five:30 a.m. Tokyo time. News clips showed fans in Osaka dunking themselves from the Dotonbori River for the reason that day dawned, part of a nationwide celebration.

With devoted fans dressed in zany costumes -- Samurai, of program, anime characters, and what looked to become refugees from classic Kurosawa films -- the Japanese became a sudden phenomenon here. Just as suddenly, it absolutely was over.

Nevertheless after initial tears of disappointment and disbelief, those identical fans, their makeup a little runny, headed out of the stadium with smiles of pride, enjoying the moments and appreciating the effort.

Japanese journalists here stated Komano won't be a goat for his miss; he plus the rest of the staff gave the country too a lot to cheer about. Throngs of fans are anticipated to greet the crew at the airport.

Even now, coming so close will sting for a though. Asked what his thoughts were definitely when the video game finally ended, Okada, the drained coach, was succinct.

"It's the conclude," he said. "The stop of our Globe Cup."

But though Komano may not believe it, it's not the end on the entire world.