Yes, Sunday’s gripping World Cup final in Germany between the United States and Japan will long be known for the American squad’s mind-bending collapse in the face of certain victory over a talented and likely underestimated Japanese squad. But the non-soccer-loving crowd will remember yesterday’s historic matchup for etching its place in short-term geekdom.

As the two countries traded goals in extra time and decided the biggest prize in women’s soccer on penalty kicks, Twitter users around the world smashed the nearly seven-month-old record for highest TPS (that’s tweets per second). Just as the US was throwing away millions of dollars in potential endorsements, having blown two one-goal leads, TPS hit a staggering 7,196, breaking the record set on New Year’s Day 2011 in Japan (6,939).

How does that compare to other tweeted events of historical significance? Osama bin Laden’s death produced just over 5,100 tweets per second at its peak, and the Green Bay Packers’ six-point win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV hit 4,096 TPS as the game was winding down.

It’s clear that soccer, with its seemingly infinite global popularity, loves Twitter, as last year’s men’s World Cup in South Africa set its own TPS record with Japan’s opening-round win over Denmark with 3,282 — less than half of yesterday’s record-setting mark.

More over, the US/Japan record was itself nearly eclipsed by a Copa America quarterfinal matchup between Paraguay and Brazil that reached some 7,166 tweets per second on the same day.

In short, if you’ve got any prop wagers set for when some planetary event will finally crack 8,000 TPS, always bet on the beautiful game.

AP Photo/Michael Probst