World Cup 2010 has been done and dusted, as we have found a champion out of the 32 teams competing for the biggest prize of all in footballing universe, Spain, as well as Thomas Muller, the winner of the Golden Boot award and also for the young German to officially announce his arrival in world football. However, there's still one more award which drew quite a lot of criticisms and that's the Golden Ball award, awarded to the best player in the tournament. In World Cup 2010, the winner is Uruguay's Diego Forlan, and many pundits and fans, especially Internazionale fans out there feel that Forlan is not a deserving recipient of this award, as they feel that Wesley Sneijder, the runners-up for the award, or in other words the Silver Ball winner of this tournament who should have been the recipient of the Golden Ball. They argued that Sneijder has scored some great goals in the tournament that were crucial and game changing for the Dutch, especially his two goals that obliterated Brazil and sealed a 2-1 comeback win. However, we have to see that in relative terms, Forlan was much more impactful for his country than the Dutchman, as he virtually single-handedly carried his unheralded team all the way to the semi-finals and could have been in for much more. Thus, the reasons why Forlan is indeed a deserving recipient of the Golden Ball award will be outlined in the following paragraphs.
The first reason why Forlan deserves to be the winner of the Golden Ball was because of the fact that he single-handedly carried Uruguay forward with his goals (5 goals in total in the competition). Even during those games when he did not score, he helped the other players such as Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez to strut their stuff on the pitch to score the necessary goals for them to go through. When he scores the goals, of course I don't need to elaborate much on how Forlan carried the team forward as it's so plainly obvious, but even if he only has a meager 1 assist throughout the tournament (which we will touch upon again later).
Thus secondly, when he is not scoring in a game, Suarez scores. Just like when they were up against Mexico in the last Group A match which ensured they topped the Group and avoided Argentina in the last 16, and then in the last 16 itself when they were up against a solid and resolute South Korean side, in which Suarez scored 2 goals. So, what was Forlan doing in those occasions when he does not score at all? He simply acted as a decoy who drew defenders towards him. Even if it sounds really simple, being a decoy is not that easy. A decoy striker needs a huge reputation for being extremely dangerous when he has the ball on his feet or at least somewhere around him. Based on his records throughout his career (book blotting Manchester United records aside), his plethora of goals and individual accolades confirming his knack of scoring goals simply caused defenders to panic when he moves somewhere even if it's his off the ball movements, and thus whenever he goes to somewhere, the opposing defenders are likely to follow him around while subconsciously neglecting the other strikers such as Luis Suarez, arguably the main and sole beneficiary of Forlan's decoy play when he's not scoring goals for one reason or another such as being particularly marked very tightly by the opposing team.
Thirdly, one might still argue that only players from the winning team, the runners-up or at least from the team which clinched the third place as they ended the competition in glory. Since Uruguay did not fall into any of those criteria, it was deemed that Forlan should not have received the Golden Ball. Not only that it is such a naïve judgment, but that shows that anybody with that line of thought simply do not understand football at all and simply did not watch the competition at all, and basically just followed the competition solely through its Wikipedia entry. Yes, we have to admit that Sneijder, the player widely tipped to be the real best player in the tournament, did indeed play a huge and important role in his team's progress all the way to the final, but we have to look at things in perspective, and if the award is exclusively for the players from the winning teams, then I would suggest that FIFA rips the “My Game is Fair Play” flag draped by the local kids into the pitch before each match alongside the countries' flags that are playing in each game. Fortunately, FIFA's award committee was wise enough not to be so naïve, and simply carefully and meticulously assessed the candidates before deciding to settle with Forlan. Even if his team did not progress beyond the semi-finals, and they even lost to Germany in the third place playoff, but nevertheless in the semi-finals against Holland he scored a crucial equalizing goal in the 41st minute to get Uruguay back into the game after Holland had scored through van Bronckhorst's thunderbolt strike.
Even if it wasn't enough, Forlan continued to score again in the third place playoffs in the 51st minute to get Uruguay in front, but again it wasn't enough as they suffered yet another 3-2 defeat against Germany. However, those goals against Holland and Germany could not e taken lightly. In both occasions, especially in the Holland game, Forlan's goals in those games provided the impetus towards the rest of the Uruguay squad to keep on fighting all the way to the end. In the Holland game, they kept on fighting and when 3-1 down, Maxi Pereira managed to score at the last minute to make a grandstand finish, but even if they continued to threaten Holland for a dramatic equalizer, it simply wasn't enough, but it can be argued, especially by Uruguay fans that Forlan's goals in those games played a huge role in keeping their hopes alive. That's a sign of a great player inspiring a whole nation, even during an imminent defeat.
Fourthly, as mentioned earlier in the article, Forlan was also within a touching distance in becoming the tournament's top scorer. He has 5 goals in the end, and was tied with three other players (David Villa, Thomas Muller, and Wesley Sneijder). In the end, the young Thomas Muller won the Golden Boot award due to FIFA's tie-breaking criteria of counting the assist tally of the players in the event there's a tie. Muller has 3, more than Villa Sneijder, and Forlan all have only one assist in the entire tournament and those three are further separated by the minutes spent on the pitch. I somewhat feel that all three players should have won it jointly, instead of sorting out for just one sole winner based on assists and minutes on the pitch while it should have been a simple award in which the winner(s) would be decided by the amount of goals that they have scored. But since I am just an ordinary fan and that I am nowhere near the FIFA executive positions, I digress. But this is shared by many pundits who also feel that the award should have been jointly won. But nevertheless, Forlan was just within an inch from getting yet another award in the Golden Boot award, and this simply showed that Forlan was up there with the top strikers in the tournament alongside the de facto top names such as David Villa and Wesley Sneijder (Muller being a young breakthrough star of the tournament).
Fifthly, and arguably the most important is the fact that Forlan was one of the most fair play players in the tournament. Alright, I can understand that nowadays when the word “Uruguay” is mentioned, a plethora of negative connotations come to mind, especially for the English (Referee who did not see Lampard's “Goal”) and for the Ghanaians, obviously for the blatant cheating tactic that Luis Suarez employed to stop a goalbound header with his hands, as well as his arrogant reactions in the press afterward, in which he showed no remorse and gone on to even claim that Hand of God belongs to him now. However, this is an individual award, and we should not claim that every single Uruguayan in the squad is bad. Forlan was a player who set an example, and I believe even though Diego Lugano was the one wearing the Captain's Armband, but the real leadership was actually in Forlan's hands. He really led the team, spurred the team on with distinction, as well as leading by example. For example, if he's tackled roughly, he simply shrugged it, got up immediately like a man, and went on with the game, and if he's tackled lightly, he simply stayed on his feet and continued on playing. This is so contrasting to certain players out there who are supposed to be a world class footballer, but roll themselves 8 times with the slightest contact and sometimes due to a non-existent contact. Thus, the fact that he's the embodiment of the words “Fair Play” totally merits the fact that he got the Golden Ball.
Lastly, it's of course the psychological boost that he gives to the whole squad. When he's on the pitch, the whole squad simply believe in themselves and they simply go on an overdrive mode to go on a step further as individual players. Even Fernando Muslera, much maligned in Lazio as he is always seems insecure between the posts for the Roman club, but in this competition, he looked really world class and sturdy, with quite a few world class saves for the record. It seems that Forlan has this aura that simply spurs the rest of the squad. I saw caricatures of each of the 32 teams participating in the World Cup, and for the Uruguayan team, it is a sun with Forlan's face and with two hands holding to two Jules Rimet trophies the country has won in 1930 and 1950. The caricature simply sent a clear message, at least for me, that Forlan is simply the shining light of the team, the guiding sun of Uruguay, and I dare say was the lifeline of the squad. Had he been absent for just one match, this Uruguay team will not perform like what they had been performing in the World Cup.
Thus, based on those factors highlighted above, from his goalscoring exploits for his country in the competition, for the fact that one man simply lit up the whole nation, just like how a top pundit wrote in a top website while he was in Montevideo witnessing Uruguay's run in the competition from the Capital City, and when Forlan scores, the whole city, and he believes the whole country went silent and were simply stunned by the player, their guiding light. Also, not forgetting the fact that he is a real man who realizes that football is a contact sport unlike some players who whine and cry around when oposing players get near them as if football is a Texas Hold'em game whereby someone closing in on you means that he wants to take a peek at your two cards in hand, and simply for being the team's lifeline and the guiding light to glory, although it was close but no cigar for them. In short, Forlan fully deserves the Golden Ball award and I think I have to mention this, but Forlan was a promising tennis player in his youth before he decided to switch to football when his sister was paralyzed from a car accident. Since that touching story, he has become what he is today, and besides contributing for his family, and for his sister, and for their foundation to help campaigning for the preventions of car accidents, he has contributed a hell lot for football, and he will always be remembered for a prolific football player who has lit up a game so much, and how football has to be thankful that he switched to football, or else he will be lighting up Wimbledon, Roland Garros, Rod Laver Arena, and you name it instead of the “Beautiful Game”
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