Goals, gaffes and records: how Twitter saw the weekend’s World Cup action

This weekend saw the opening salvos of the World Cup’s knockout stages and, alongside the drama taking place on the pitch, there was plenty of action on Twitter. Alongside some massively tweeted numbers, there was drama galore thanks, largely, to one serious gaffe.

The former came before the latter, when Brazil’s match against Chile saw a couple of new records on the social network. Some 16.4-million tweets were sent during the match, which ended in a tense penalty shootout. That not only makes it the most the most tweeted match of the tournament so far, but the most tweeted single sporting event in Twitter’s history.

With 16.4 million Tweets, #BRA v #CHI is the most-discussed match of the #WorldCup so far pic.twitter.com/w0BJYz646s

— Twitter Data (@TwitterData) June 28, 2014

Mentions for the match peaked at 389 000 tweets per minute when Chilean defender Gonzalo Jara’s crucial penalty miss sent the hosts through to the quarter finals. That saw it beat out Superbowl 48’s previous record of 382 000 tweets per minute.

#BRA v #CHI: the most-discussed moments of the match on Twitter #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/qp3P4NP4h4

— Twitter Data (@TwitterData) June 28, 2014

As The Next Web points out, those kinds of numbers could prove a massive boon to Twitter in its quest to own the second screen experience and convince advertisers that spending money on it can only aid their tactical campaigns.

KLM pisses off the whole of Mexico

Of course, all the money in the world doesn’t mean you’ll strike gold with your Tweets every time. Dutch airline KLM learned that lesson the hard way when it tried to get a bit cheeky after the Netherlands scored a last gasp victory over Mexico.

The airline, which actually has a history of doing pretty well on social media, sent out a tweet saying “Adios Amigos” with a picture of a departures sign that included a stereotypical caricature of a mustachioed Mexican man wearing a sombrero and a poncho.

The tweet was deleted as soon as it became obvious that it wasn’t actually funny and was, in fact, causing a torrent of mass online rage. The person most eloquently capturing that rage was probably Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal, who tweeted “@KLM I’m never flying your shitty airline again. F*** you big time.”

That tweet also appears to have been deleted, with Bernal offering his own subsequent apology:

I must say this: apologies to anyone who felt offended by my comments. I was caught by the football bug that spoiled my sense of humor.

— Gael Garcia Bernal (@GaelGarciaB) June 29, 2014

Perhaps the classiest response however came from Mexican airline AeroMexico. Check it out:

Gracias por este gran campeonato, estamos orgullosos y los esperamos en casa #VivaMéxico pic.twitter.com/GCE5u5Cj6r

— Aeroméxico (@AeroMexico_com) June 29, 2014