The World Cup is the premiere showcase for the most popular sport on the planet. For footy fans it’s the pinnacle of team athletics. For the rest of us it’s just a good excuse to say, “vevuzela.” But for a sporting event that is supposed to be the crowning glory of futbol excellence, the World Cup 2010 had it’s fair share of horrendous moments. Here are the ten worst.

Italian midfielder Daniele De Rossi went charging toward his opponent’s goal in their match against Paraguay . . . although the opposing team really didn’t figure into this play at all. Trying to draw a whistle, the untouched De Rossi unleashed an Italian classic: the dive-a-rooni.

Danish defender Simon Poulsen attempted to clear a Netherlands scoring chance with a header—only problem: he struck it off the back of a teammate and into his own net. The devastating blunder turned out to be the game winner in a 2-0 Denmark loss.

Goalkeeper Robert Green had it all the way. It wasn’t a particularly difficult or well struck shot he was attempting to scoop up into his fuzzy gloves, but it proved to be a slippery one—and costly. David Beckham looked . . . bent.

For Spain’s David Villa, this is a top-ten highlight all the way. He scored from about 50 yards out to give Spain the 1-0 victory over Chile. But the reason he was able to bury such a long shot in the back of the Chilean net was that their goalkeeper, Claudio Bravo was about 40 yards away from his post. His outside-the-box hustle proved out of place in this instance.

The United States is still waiting for an explanation on this one. Referee Koman Coulibaly called someone offsides, or just didn’t feel like allowing this goal. For whatever reason, as you can see, the American fans were a bit upset.

England’s Frank Lampard thought he had tied the match 1-1 against Germany. His shot caromed off the crossbar not once, but twice. In between it struck the pitch a good foot past the goal line. Somehow the referee failed to see it and play continued. The outcries from the British continue as well.

Brazilian star Kaka was shown a red card for his brutal elbow thrown to the Ivory Coast’s Abdelkader Keita, who immediately dropped to the turf with his hands over his face. Replay shows pretty conclusively, though, that the elbow was a rather harmless grazing to the midsection. The red card went to Kaka, but the Oscar goes to Keita. The music and SFX are kind of loud, so adjust your volume as needed.

Both teams in this match received the benefit and the curse of terrible officiating. Brazil’s Luis Fabiano got a better grasp of the ball on this play than did the Ivory Coast goalkeeper. That’s kind of against the rules, but some witnesses said the uncalled infraction actually caused the ref to break into laughter at midfield. Maybe he choked on his whistle.

In a match against South Korea, Nigerian striker Yakubu Ayegbeni found himself wide open in front of an empty net. About five to ten feet away. In the middle of the goal. Somehow, he shanked the shot to the left. Ouch.

Paul the so-called psychic octopus made it through the World Cup 2010 swimmingly, predicting winners left and right to the delight of his fellow German countrymen, women, and mollusks. The delight was gone, however, when the cephalopod favored the Spaniards in their semifinal match. He proved to be right, but the reaction across Germany was all wrong. The octopus’s owner received death threats—and recipe suggestions—as his nation grieved the precision of his prognostication.

Do you remember any other worst moments from World Cup Soccer 2010? Share with us.