2010 World Cup awards: Forlan wins Golden Ball

A nice little graphic with Forlan's tournament statistics

After the World Cup, it's not all over, there's still plenty of awards to be dished out even if your team didn't lift the trophy. When the nominees were announced, I put up a post with the Golden Ball (best player of the tournament) and Best Young Player award nominees, I forgot about the Golden Glove (best goalkeeper of the tournament), but that award seemed already decided.

And now, FIFA have dished out every single award, and here are the winners (I won't be putting Adidas in front of all these award names, I'm sorry FIFA):


Golden Ball (Best player):
Diego Forlan

Golden Boot (Top scorer):
Thomas Muller

Golden Glove (Best goalkeeper):
Iker Casillas

Best young player award:
Thomas Muller




Yes, here they are, three names for four awards, and it's exciting seeing a young player like Thomas Muller sweep up two awards. Muller claimed the top scorer award because even though he was tied at five goals with David Villa and Wesley Sneijder, he had the most assists (three), therefore the young German claims the top scorer award. I find it very exciting that such a young player is sweeping two awards in his first World Cup, for me, Thomas Muller could become one of the next legendary players.

As for the other two awards, I'm very much in agreement with FIFA, Iker Casillas was the best goalkeeper for me without a doubt, and Diego Forlan was the heart and soul of Uruguay as he dragged them back into World Cup history, claiming a fourth place.

What are your thoughts on the awards? Share them below by commenting!

Spain conquer World Cup: 1-0 final score

Spain captain Iker Casillas lifting the cup

History has been made by Spain, they defeated the Netherlands 1-0 in the final of the World Cup. It certainly won't go down as an entertaining game, but in the end the goal came and Spain are World Champions for the first time in their history.

Netherlands – Spain

The first half was very negative, Spain were dominant with their passing, but they weren't able to create anything with the absence of a true center-forward like Torres. David Villa didn't touch the ball much, and the only danger to the Netherlands goal was a header from Sergio Ramos which Stekelenburg did well to save. The Netherlands on the other hand went out to play what could be considered a destructive game, they gave little space to Iniesta and Xavi, and they were constantly fouling in attempts to get the ball back. The Netherland's only memorable chance was a low shot from Robben from outside the box which Casillas parried.

After the half, the game livened up (with plenty of fouls too), the Netherlands were the first to create what should've been a goal, Sneijder plays Robben through, 1 on 1, and the Bayern Munich player sees his shot saved by Casillas's outstretched feet. After that, David Villa had an open net from a corner, but Heitinga stopped the shot with some last ditch defending, and then Spain really missed a golden opportunity with Sergio Ramos getting a free header right in front of goal. The Real Madrid defender sent the ball over the bar, sending the two teams into extra time in goalless equality.

Andres Iniesta scoring the winner

It was in extra time that the red card eventually came, you could sense that a Netherlands player was going to get his second yellow, and be sent off. Heitinga was the man who got his second yellow, getting himself expelled with just ten minutes to go until penalties. But in the 116th minute, Spain found the winner, Fabregas playing a cross over for Iniesta who controls and volleys it underneath Stekelenburg for the epic goal. Spain lift the World Cup trophy for the first time in their history, and Andres Iniesta continues to be the man that finds goals at the right moment.

Goalfest for third place: Germany wins 3-2

So falls the rain, and we've received just what we needed, a goalfest. The battle for third was a truly entertaining game, and no matter what anyone else says, I'll happily state that so far, with only the final left, Uruguay - Germany was my favorite game of the World Cup. This goalfest for third probably indicatest that the final will have a goal in it, if we're lucky. Spain's possession based dominance with tiki taka passing, against Dirk Kuyt who will be running around the field in confusion will ultimately be a low scoring affair. But the final is later today, lets talk about this match for third place.

Uruguay - Germany

The two sides were evenly matched, Uruguay were direct and dangerous with Forlan, and Germany were led by one-touch passing between Ozil and Muller. Germany got the first with Schweinsteiger blasting a shot which Muslera couldn't contain, letting young Muller follow up for the lead early on in the 19th minute. But Uruguay took advantage of Germany's poor positioning to find an equalizer; Freidrich moved up to attack along with Khedira and Aogo, so when Scheinsteiger had the ball taken away from him, there were only two German defenders against Uruguay's three forwards. This let Cavani finish one on one against Butt for the equalizer.

In the second half, Uruguay took the lead with Forlan who was completely unmarked at the top of the box, the Atletico Madrid striker side volleyed the ball into the ground making it bounce into Butts net for a memorable goal. But it was inevitable that Germany would find the equalizer, and it was Jansen who found it, heading the ball past Muslera who had come out to punch the cross, but missed. Jansen scored, looked around in confusion, then at the linesman, and walked off unhappily with his first goal in a World Cup finals.

Germany found the winner in the 82nd, a goal-mouth scramble from a corner eventually finished with Sami Khedira looping a header over Muslera and into the back of the net, strangely, Khedira decided to celebrate with his teammates, unlike Jansen. But it couldn't just finish like this, in the final minute of injury time, Uruguay get a free kick right outside Germany's box, Forlan steps up ready to take what could be the last kick of the game. A curling free kick, destined for the top left corner, decides to break everyones hearts and thud off the crossbar, it's followed by the final whistle as the German players thank their stars that Forlan's effort wasn't a couple of centimeters lower.

FIFA World Cup Golden Ball award nominees

The nomination ceremony with the Golden Ball trophy

FIFA have recently announced the 10 players which will contest the player of the tournament award for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Along with these 10 players, another three have been nominated for the best young player award.

Here are the nominees for the two awards,

FIFA Golden Ball award:

Gyan Asamoah   -   Ghana
Diego Forlan   -   Uruguay
Andres Iniesta   -   Spain
Lionel Messi   -   Argentina
Mesut Ozil   -   Germany
Arjen Robben   -   Netherlands
Bastian Schweinsteiger   -   Germany
Wesley Sneijder   -   Netherlands
David Villa   -   Spain
Xavi Hernandez   -   Spain

FIFA Young player of the tournament:

Andre Ayew   -   Ghana
Giovani Dos Santos   -   Mexico
Thomas Muller   -   Germany

It will be interesting to see how the final and the battle for 3rd place will affect who wins, while Xavi won the EURO 2008 best player of the tournament, we could see Wesley Sneijder or Robben claim the award for the 2010 World Cup. Another slightly interesting addition to the list is Lionel Messi, who while he had a couple of great games, failed to score and lift Argentina over Germany.

As for the Young player of the tournament award, the three nominees seem perfect to me, all three played well for their countries and will certainly be looked at this transfer market.