Ghana’s World Cup defeat to the US: the Twitter numbers

Twitter is continuing its alternative coverage of the World Cup, this time dishing out metrics from the US and Ghana’s (#GHAvsUSA) Group G clash, and Germany’s 4-0 rampage of Portugal.

Unfortunately for the Black Stars, the US ran out 2-1 victors against the run of play, thanks to an 86th minute winner from 21-year-old sensation John Brooks. With two goals in the final eight minutes of the match, it was one of the more exciting encounters in an already entertaining tournament. But how did the Twitter community react?

4.9 million total tweets for #GHAvsUSA

According to the social network’s analytics wizards, fewer people tweeted during this match than the opening duel between Brazil and Croatia. This figure also falls behind the #GERvsPOR match, that racked up 8.9 million tweets. #GHAvsUSA still achieved an impressive average of around 55 000 tweets per minute during the game.

Remember, this merely takes into account the #GHAvsUSA hashtag.

Clint Dempsey was the most tweeted and followed player

Speaking of minutes, the opening 60 seconds featured the most talked about event of the match, Clint Dempsey’s opening goal – garnering a massive 173 738 tweets per minute. The goal was the fifth fastest recorded in World Cup history – just 29 seconds after kick off. The US captain is never too far from quick fire goals, previously scoring a 50 second goal against Barbados for the US.

The next tweeted about moment was John Brook’s winner. Incidentally it was Brook’s first International goal in his fifth match for his country.

Additionally, Dempsey’s follower count grew by nearly 30 000, 27 times the normal daily followers the US captain enjoys.

Andre Ayew was Ghana’s star

Ayew, who plays his club football for Olympique de Marseille, scored Ghana’s equaliser and garnered the most mentions for his country. Dempsey was again the most popular player for the US, followed by Jozy Altidore and last-gasp hero John Brooks.

150 countries tweeted, most from the US

Twitter users from Australia to Hawaii joined in the conversation, with the US contributing the lump sum of the tweets. This is possibly due to the late kick off time, ideal for US audiences (1am in most of Europe and Africa).

In turn, Germany’s brilliant display against Portugal represented a much larger coverage.

Twitter will continue to produce World Cup themed metrics for the duration of the tournament. You can follow @twitterdata for more information, or @memeburn to keep up to date with social media trends and tech news relating to the global football spectacle.