The beauty of sports is that nothing is ever guaranteed. Those who are highly favoured to win don't always do so, and it's moments like these that get the whole world talking.

People love to see the underdog step up and knock the top team off their perch. It's the foundation of nearly every sports movie ever made - the team that everyone thinks has no chance of winning somehow manages to rise to the challenge, and walk away victorious against all odds.

In light of all that, here's our Top 5 Greatest Sporting Upsets:


5. Kiwis vs Kangaroos - rugby league

The 2005 rugby league Tri-Nations final is one Kiwi fans will never forget. It's the day we kept the best team in the world scoreless, beating them 24-0 - and in doing so, claimed one of the greatest upsets in the history of league.

The Kangaroos couldn't have had a worse game if they'd tried. They had 20 handling errors, and completed only 17/32 sets - which, for a team filled with superstars, is a bad day at the office.

The Kiwis, on the other hand, were at their best. They ran in four trys (Whatuira, Vatuvei x2, Webb), and (perhaps even more impressively) held their line, and stopped the Kangaroos from scoring.

Victories against the Aussies in league are few and far between, and this was definitely one of the greatest.


4. New York Giants vs New England Patriots - NFL Super Bowl

The Patriots went into Super Bowl XLII as odds-on favourites to beat the Giants. They had won an amazing 18 games in a row to make it to the Super Bowl, and had beaten the Giants 38-35 in the final game of the regular season. They were only one win away from becoming the first team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to go through the entire season undefeated.

Going into the final quarter, the Patriots led 7-3 before the Giants finally crossed for a touchdown, taking the lead at 10-7. That was short lived, though, as the Patriots soon responded with another touchdown to reclaim the lead 14-10. And, with time ticking away, they looked like they were about to claim another Super Bowl Championship.

With only 1:15 minutes left on the clock, Eli Manning came up with the play of the game, throwing a 32 yard pass to David Tyree, putting the Giants only 24 yards from the Patriots goal line. Within four plays, and with only 35 seconds left, Manning threw the winning touchdown, caught by Plaxico Burress. The Giants had beaten the Patriots 17-14 - a real upset, and one for the Super Bowl history books.


3. Buster Douglas vs 'Iron Mike' Tyson - boxing

In 1990 Tyson was in the prime of his boxing career, and had a perfect professional record of 37-0 spanning from 1985-1990. Tyson headed to Japan for a fight with James 'Buster' Douglas, a man Tyson was expected to easily defeat.

The odds were quite literally stacked against Buster - the bookmakers had him at 42-1 odds to win the fight. Not the kind of odds a betting man would take.

But Buster put up a fight, and despite being knocked down by a Tyson uppercut in the eighth round, Buster got back to his feet. For the next two rounds, he sent a barrage of heavy punches Tyson's way. In the tenth round Buster finally knocked Tyson down, and the champ never recovered. It was Tyson's first ever defeat as a pro, and the first time he was knocked out.

The man that people thought was unbeatable was finally beaten by a man that no one thought could win.


2. Bangladesh vs Australia - cricket

This has David vs Goliath written all over it - by far the most dominant cricket team in the world vs the whipping boys of international cricket. But this was going to be a game that Bangladesh would never forget.

Australia batted first, and against Bangladesh should have posted 300+. Instead, the Bangladesh bowlers kept the Aussie batsmen to only 249. Well under par for this Australian side, but still a total that should have been far too many for the Bangladesh side to chase.

But, thanks to a brilliant century by Mohammad Ashraful, they somehow managed to chase down the Aussies total with only four balls to spare. In the final over of the game, Aftab Ahmed hit a six off the first ball to tie the scores, followed by a single to win the game.

This is one of the real bright spots of Bangladesh's cricketing history (there haven't been that many...), and a real disgrace for the Aussies.


1. USA vs the USSR - 1980 Winter Olympics - ice hockey

The 'Miracle on Ice' - the US mens ice hockey team went into the gold medal game against the might of the USSR team. Only a few days before the Olympics began, the USSR thrashed the US 10-3 in a warm-up match, which many thought signified the Soviet Union's dominance over ice hockey.

Their team was made up of professional players, while the US team was made up of amateurs and college players - basically, they were kids compared to the Soviet team. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know who should have won...

But by the end of the final, the US had brought down the heavyweights of ice hockey by 4 goals to 3, and in doing so won gold - while the USSR had to settle for the silver.

This win was more than just a sporting victory for the US - you also have to remember that these two mighty nations were in the midst of the Cold War, and so this game was just as much about politics as it was about sport.

This was a major, major upset, and is widely recognised as one of the greatest upsets of all time.