And so the greatest sporting event in the world comes to an end for another four years before we head to Brazil in 2014. Overdue congratulations to Spain and unfortunate commiserations to the Dutch. But what have we got from this tournament? It’s time for the Injury Time World Cup Awards!

Golden... Forlan was impressive in South Africa.

Player of the Tournament

Diego Forlan (Uruguay)

He won the golden ball, and rightly so. The target man finished equal top-scorer and also chipped in with three assists. He was the main man for Uruguay and had his last-minute free kick been a little lower against the Germans, he would have walked away with the Golden Boot too.

Goal of the Tournament

Giovanni Van Bronckhorst (Netherlands)

His rocket strike against Forlan’s Uruguay set the tone for the Dutch’s qualification for the final. Now retired after an illustrious career, whilst he’ll be disappointed, he’ll be thrilled with the final goal of his career.

Find of the Tournament

Stunner... Van Bronckhorst's final career goal was legendary.

Thomas Mueller (Germany)

His name was not known to many worldwide pre-World Cup but now people are sitting up to take notice. He was instrumental in Germany’s campaign and his knack to be in the right place at the right time and finishing ability is amazing under the age of 21.

Coach of the Tournament

Joachim Loew (Germany)

He’s still not assured of his job after the World Cup as amazing as it is. He took a team that not many fancied pre-Cup and turned them into the ‘new Netherlands’ of European football, playing the most expansive game of counter-attacking football.

Best Match of the Tournament

Germany 3 def. Uruguay 2 (3^rd Place Play-Off)

Some say this game isn’t required, but time and time again, it proves to be one of the most free-flowing games of the World Cup. It was no different this time as the two teams played out a highly entertaining game which saw some great football all round and plenty of goals. This fixture averages more than four goals over all the World Cup’s it has featured in.

Surprise Pack of the Tournament

Smelllltzz! Shane scored THAT goal against Italy.

New Zealand

Imagine if someone came to you in May this year and told you that New Zealand would be the only undefeated team in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Well that’s exactly what happened and not only that, but they finished above previous champions, Italy. Courageous team spirit and tactical awareness perhaps saw them unlucky to not make the round of 16. Oh, and how’s this for a stat; Shane Smeltz of NZ who plays in Australia’s A-League (soon to be playing in China) scored more goals in this World Cup than Wayne Rooney + Fernando Torres and Lionel Messi put together! Ridiculous! Sign him up Madrid!

Better Luck Next Time Award

Wayne Rooney (England) + Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

Shocker... Rooney had a terrible time of it.

We just couldn’t separate the two. Rooney was arguably worse – never showing up in any of England’s games. I’ve even diverted to starting Defoe/Crouch and Agbonglahor on my PS3. Too add insult, Rooney was later named the ugliest footballer in the world! Ronaldo meanwhile, again went missing on the biggest stage and he’ll probably only have one more chance at best to add the one medal missing from his cabinet.

How Did He Miss That? Award

Yakubu Ayegbeni (Nigeria)

It was beyond unbelievable. In a tense game with South Korea, where a win would send them through, Nigeria trailed the Asians, 2-1. Then, out of nothing  a squared ball found Yakubu free as a bird directly in front of an open goal with keeper beaten. The Everton striker though somehow pushed his shot wide with the goal gaping. And he is paid hundreds of thousands of dollars per week…

Cahill is currently in Australia with his Everton teammates.

Spearing a little of his time at a signing session for Optus, Cahill took a minute to talk to us.

We asked him about his thoughts on the A-League to start with.

“Yeah look, I support all the teams in the A-League and hope they do well,”

“Football in Australia is growing, as you can see,”

Speculation had of course been rife now for a few years about Cahill launching an A-League side in Sydney around Wollongong. But Cahill quashed those rumours, for now at least.

“Not too sure mate, but we’ll see what happens in the future, though,”

“Like I said, I just hope the teams do well,”

We couldn’t let him escape without one question about the World Cup though, and what better than his thoughts about all the Jabulani controversy.

“It’s different!” he said with a smile as he signed a Socceroos scarf for us.

TIM CAHILL and his Premier League side Everton are currently in Australia for three pre-season matches. They face Sydney FC (July 10), Melbourne Heart (July 14) and finish with a clash against Brisbane Roar (July 17).

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Now that we have eight teams remaining as we head into the quarter-finals stage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, we’re asking who you think will ultimately lift up the prize. With no massive shocks (in terms of results) during the round of 16, we have some tantalizing clashes coming up.

Will Brazil take their tally to 6 and add another continent to their impressive resume? Will Uruguay surprise everyone with a famous championship? Can Spain deliver on all their potential? You tell us as we look out for the people’s favourite for the World Cup.

At the double... Vittek grabbed a brace in Slovakia's 3-2 win over Italy.

Some are touting it as the greatest choke in World Cup history and no doubt the Azzurri will be facing questions upon questions on their return to Italy.

The impressive Robert Vittek opened the scoring after 25 minutes as Slovakia went into half time. Amazingly Vittek doubled his goal tally to send the Italian fans at Johannesburg into shock, if they weren’t already.

But, when Di Natale got a goal back with nine minutes remaining, Italy started to regain self belief.

However, after constant pressure, the Italians were caught out from a throw in which allowed Kopunek to sneak in behind the defence and score with his first touch after coming of the bench. It sparked raptures on the bench as Slovakia looked to have sealed the game.

However, the Azzurri were not willing to die just yet. When Quagliarella picked up the ball just outside the area, he produced a sublime chip to bring it back to 3-2 with only minutes remaining.

Slovakia gave the Italians a dose of their own medicine, constantly play-acting in stoppage time and it was clearly angering the Italians.

Then with last opportunity for Italy a long throw  into the box was met by an unmarked Pepe at the far post who screwed his shot wide, a chance where he really should have scored.

One assumes that will be it for Marcello Lippi, forever. Many of the Italians would have played their last World Cup game and one might argue that the like of Cannavaro and Pirlo deserved a much better note to go out on.

But the Slovak’s will not be complaining they qualify for the Round of 16 with Paraguay when they really looked like they would finish last before this game. They now have a probable meeting with the Dutch, but after some of the results in what is being dubbed as the ‘World Cup of Upsets’, you never know what could happen.

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Mixed Feelings... The Socceroos are out, what did you make of their World Cup efforts?

They picked up a gutsy 2-1 win over Serbia yesterday, and although it was not enough to see them qualify for the round of 16, they have restored the pride.

Pim Verbeek will now be replaced as national manager and this will mark the end of the ‘golden generation’ of Australian Football. The likes of Craig Moore and Scott Chipperfield have finished their national careers for the Socceroos, whilst the likes of Vincenzo Grella, Marco Bresciano, Harry Kewell, Mark Schwarzer and skipper Lucas Neill may all have potentially played at their last World Cup for Australia.

There is hope though, the impressive performances of players like Brett Holman, Carl Valeri and arguably Australia’s best performer, Luke Wilkshere, conveying that Australia has some very capable players waiting in the ranks.

But for now, that ends Australia’s World Cup campaign for 2010, don’t forget to let us know your thoughts on their efforts in the poll and in the comments section at the end of this page!

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