On July 17, the FIFA Women's World Cup Championship final between USA and Japan smashed twitter records and became the most tweeted event in the social networking site's five-year history.
Tied 2-2 at the end of overtime, Japan went on to defeat two-time world champion USA in penalty kicks. In the final minutes of overtime and during penalties, twitter produced a record 7,196 tweets per second (TPS).
ESPN's broadcast of the Championship final more than doubled the sports giant's previous record as the most-watched and highest-rated soccer telecast on an ESPN network and became the sixth-highest soccer broadcast on any TV network in the United States with 13.5 million viewers.
Japan swept World Cup awards
The tiny Japanese Women's Team, averaging only 5'4, won the hearts people everywhere. Prior to this World Cup, Japan had never advanced beyond the quarterfinals. After the devastating March 11 tsunami and subsequent earthquakes and nuclear disasters hit Japan, the team was scattered and unable to train or practice, while other World Cup nations were in high gear.
The Japan team went on to win the 2011 World Cup and also the World Cup Fair Play Award for the fewest fouls. Five-time World Cup veteran midfielder Homare Sawa won the Golden Boot for scoring six goals and the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player. Sawa, Aya Miyama and Shinobu Ohnu were named to the 2011 World Cup All-Star team.
Click here for a photo gallery of the World Cup final and the women of Japan's National Team.
Twitter highs
Later that day, soccer fans almost tied that record with 6,939 TPS at the peak of the Copa America quarterfinal between Brazil and Paraguay.
Other notable twitter highs occured during the March 11 tsunami and earthquake in Japan (5,530 TPS) and the 2011 Super Bowl between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers (4,064 TPS).
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