When Germany was up 5-0 at half-time against Brazil, searches in Germany
for 'highest world cup victory' rocketed.
2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil
June 12 – July 13
The all-time highest-scoring semifinal ended 7-1 to Germany, just short of
the record nine-goal margin set by Hungary in 1954 and 1982, and Yugoslavia
in 1974. After 64 games, 171 goals and over 2.2 billion searches, 'world
cup 2014' was the third-highest peak in search and the most searched
sporting event in history.
Standout matches
Tournament-defining games live on in memory. These were the three that
captured our attention most in 2014.
Explore
Trends
'brazil v germany'
'netherlands v argentina'
'brazil v croatia'
Jun / 2014Aug / 2014
Argentina defeated Holland on penalties in the second semifinal. It was a
little less exciting than the first, a fact reflected in search as the game was
outclassed by the Brazil v Germany game over 2x.
The opening game of the tournament gave us plenty to talk about as Brazil
finished 3-1 winners against Croatia. After its initial spike, the game
continued to trend for another two weeks.
Psychic Paul?
During the World Cup, global searches for French midfielder Paul Pogba were
40x those for Paul the Octopus, who had a knack for predicting the correct
outcome of games in South Africa 2010.
And soccer outjumped basketball
Even in the US, the World Cup outperformed the NBA Finals in search by 10x.
The tournament's top trending players:
- James Rodriguez
- Luis Suárez
- Ángel Di María
- Tim Howard
- Toni Kroos
Más nervioso que...
As the match against Brazil went to penalties, searches in Chile for the
phrase 'more nervous than...' jumped 4x before Chile’s eventual defeat.
In the end, we looked to the future. Following France’s exit from the Cup, searches for 'euro 2016' peaked...à bientôt!
Incidentally, the next tournament in which France competes will be hosted
by the French themselves, 16 years after they won the competition for the
second time.
