The World Cup's Golden Boys
The trophies were spread all around on the final day of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Spain won their first World Cup trophy in their history, becoming the eighth team to win the top prize. The individual awards of the tournament were divided amongst four countries.
Diego Forlan of Uruguay took home the ADIDAS Golden Ball as the top player of the tournament, while World Cup rookie Thomas Muller of Germany took home the Golden Boot as the top scorer of the tournament.
Wesley Sneijder of the Netherlands was awarded the silver ball, while David Villa of Spain snatched the bronze ball, as he carried Spain’s scoring duties throughout most of the tournament.
The Golden Glove award for the best goalkeeper unsurprisingly went to Iker Casillas who only conceded two goals in the tournament while captaining Spain to the World Cup.
Forlan is well deserving of the Golden Ball as he proved to be infinitely valuable to Uruguay as they reached the last four and outlasted all other South American teams, including powerhouses Brazil and Argentina.
The 31 year-old forward proved to be a driving force for Uruguay as he scored five goals. Not only did he score, but he scored a majority of his goals from outside the box. That should probably dub him the master of the Jabulani ball as he seemed to have the most control over the same ball that many of the world’s top players complained about.
Forlan was the catalyst of Uruguay’s attack and he also set up his teammates on several occasions. He teamed up with striker Luis Suarez to give Uruguay a surprising run to the semi-final. It was the first time in 40 years that the Celeste made it that far.
Forlan was all around the tournament’s best player as he did not have to resort to undermined tactics to be successful. He played fairly, disciplined, and carried Uruguay to the last four.
Who would have foreseen this after Forlan fared poorly with Manchester United? Sir Alex Ferguson must be thinking what the Red Devils did wrong that prevented this kind of production.
Equally as impressive was the young Thomas Muller of Germany who with five goals won the Golden Boot as the top scorer of the tournament.
The 20 year-old forward edged out Spain’s David Villa, the Netherlands' Sneijder and Forlan to win the Golden Boot. Muller had five goals and three assists in the tournament.
“This is just incredible for a newcomer to the World Cup. If anyone had told me I'd end on eight scorer points, I'd have said they were kidding me," Muller said. "It's an honour of course, but at the end of the day, I'd rather have had the World Cup itself."
Muller joins the likes of Pele, Ronaldo, and Maradona as winners of this award, and at his young age, at this pace, he can perhaps one day break Ronaldo’s World Cup record of 15 goals.
Then there was Iker Casillas of Spain who was indisputably the tournament’s best goalkeeper. While there were some who carried their teams far, like Richard Kingson of Ghana, Casillas is by far the smartest goalkeeper and has proven why he is the best. He has captained Spain to the Euro Cup and now the World Cup. He only conceded two goals in the tournament and accumulated five clean sheets. Spain won all their knockout stage games 1-0, which means that Casillas had to be perfect, and he was.
So another World Cup has gone by and new heroes have emerged. However, like all World Cups, others will arrive in four years in Brazil.
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