Diego Forlan gets his reward

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and co may have had all the hype before this World Cup, but different names have ended up on all the prizes. Despite what Nike and Pepsi wanted us believe, there were other players at this World Cup, players at the top of their games playing hard for their time in the spotlight. The World Cup in South Africa decided to shine its lights on the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger, David Villa and Thomas Mueller. The superstars left early, and other names rushed in to take their place.

Diego Forlan had been in the shadow of the world’s so called best for too long, despite having plenty of silverware and a magnificant goalscoring record. The lack of attention was mainly due to a combination of not playing for a ‘big’ International side and being labelled by the English media as the Manchester United ‘flop’. Despite this however, with 5 goals and a Golden Ball award at his side, Diego Forlan has shown his class to the World.

Profile
Diego Forlan was born on 19 May 1979 in Montevideo. His father, Pablo Forlan, also played for Uruguay as a defender, and appeared at the 1966 & 1974 World Cup finals.

Making a name
Forlan started his career in South America, and made his name playing for Argentine club Independiente between 1998 and 2001. He quickly made a name for himself as a goalscorer, scoring 40 goals in 91 appearances. This record had attracted attention from Europe and from Sir Alex Ferguson in particular.

In January 2002, at the age of twenty two, Diego Forlan joined Manchester United for a fee of £6.9 million. Forlan played at Manchester United over the course of two and half seasons, and his struggles are well known in English football circles. Forlan was relatively young when he came to England, in a new continent speaking a new language. The environment and the pressure of playing for one of the World’s biggest clubs at a young age seemed too much for the Uruguayan. He was also not helped by being in the shadow of Ruud Van Nistelrooy, one of Manchester United’s record goalscoreres. Forlan scored a disappointing 17 goals in 98 appearances, and ultimately left English football in 2004.

New life in Spain
In August 2004, Diego Forlan joined Villarreal where he was an instant success. In his first season, Forlan scored 25 league goals, winning the Pichichi Trophy and his first European Golden Boot. His goals helped Villarreal reach the Champions League for the first time in their history. Needless to say, Forlan’s first season in Spain was a resounding triumph. Forlan spent three seasons at Villarreal before signing for Atletico Madrid in June 2007. Atletico had recently sold Fernando Torres to Liverpool and Forlan was seen as a direct replacement.

Life in Madrid was equally rewarding for Forlan, and the 2008-09 season was a remarkable one for the Uruguayan. He again won the Pichichi Trophy in La Liga as well as the European Golden Boot for the second time, scoring a staggering 32 league goals in 33 appearances. In the 2009-10 season Forlan inspired Atletico to victory in the Europa League, scoring home and away against Liverpool in the semi and getting both goals against Fulham in the final in Hamburg. Despite Atletico having a poor season, Forlan still managed to score 18 league goals, often in important matches.



International rise
Diego Forlan had to wait until he was 22 years old before he finally made his debut for Uruguay in a friendly match against Saudi Arabia. He was at Manchester United during this time, and was very much in the shadow of more established players such as Alvaro Recoba. Forlan did make the Uruguay squad for the 2002 World Cup. After being brought on as a substitute in the last group game, Forlan scored a magnificant volley in a 3-3 draw with Senegal.

Uruguay failed to reach the second round in 2002, and did not qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. In 2010, Uruguay were the last team to qualify for South Africa, beating Costa Rica in a playoff. A Diego Forlan inspired team reached the semi final of the 2010 World cup, with Forlan himself scoring 5 goals and winning the Golden Ball trophy for the best player of the tournament.

Race over for the Golden Boot

After a month of solid football, the day we have all dreaded has finally come, the World Cup is over for another four years. The final two games were played over the weekend, and all the loose ends have been tied up. Spain are World Champions, Diego Forlan was voted the player of the tournament and Thomas Mueller won the Golden Boot.

In the end, four players all finished on 5 goals each, with Mueller winning the Golden Boot due to having the most assists.

• Thomas Mueller (Germany) - 5 goals
• David Villa (Spain) - 5 goals
• Wesley Sneijder (Holland) - 5 goals
• Diego Forlan (Uruguay) - 5 goals

The weekend’s results and scorelines were not all that surprising, and as is generally the case we got a free flowing and high scoring third place playoff match between two teams not under much pressure. Over the years the third place playoff has more often than not had lots more goals than the final.

1978 was the last time that more goals were scored in the Final than in the Third Place Playoff. The lack of pressure often means that the Third Place Playoff is a high scoring and entertaining game, if not all that important. This year’s Third Place Playoff, between Uruguay and Germany continued this trend by giving us five goals and plenty of exciting football. The game also took on a little more importance due to the inclusion of two Golden Boot candidates. Mueller and Forlan both grabbed a goal each to end the tournament with five goals.

David Villa and Wesley Sneijder were involved in a much more tense and tight match. Chances were limited and the best of them fell to other players such as Arjen Robben and Andres Iniesta, who got the winner.

There is a question mark over whether goals scored in the third place playoff should count in the race for the Golden Boot. Players who are knocked out in the Semi Finals get another chance, and play in a match which generally produces lots more goals. Would Mueller have won the trophy if Germany had made the Final? We will never know, but personally I don’t think there is anything wrong with the format of the World Cup, and another game to watch is fine by me.