The biggest win, though, was the fact that he could “play football again, run again and score goals again”.
He scored in every match apart from the quarter-final win over England, combining beautifully with Ronaldinho and Rivaldo throughout bagged two in the final against Germany, and equalled Pele’s 12 World Cup goals. The bidding process for hosting the tournament finals was open only to African nations. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. If Ronny wasn’t quite as good as before he was still a cut above the rest, thumping an amazing eight goals to win the Golden Boot, and the tournament, in what was a much happier few weeks than his French delight-turned-nightmare. The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. True, Ronaldo was a better player in 1998 than he was in 2002 – he was never quite the same physiological masterpiece after his horrible 2000 cruciate ligament injury, and his pace and sheer brute force were diminished in comparison to The Phenomenon who’d blasted Brazil to the final at France '98 (winning the Golden Ball as a result, only to have a mysterious fit and look like a passenger in the most important fixture).īut 2002 represented redemption. No Golden Ball could compensate for that. “It was the only mistake I made in seven games, and it was brutally punished”. “There is no consolation,” he sighed afterwards, the definition of melancholy. The image of him standing desolate after the whistle, his fortress breached, lingers on. Struggling with an injured hand, he failed to hold a Rivaldo shot, and Ronaldo scored the rebound. Three clean sheets in the knockout stages allowed a workaday outfield to one-nil their way rather boringly past Paraguay, USA and South Korea.īut with a cruelty reserved alone for goalkeepers, Khan’s World Cup will mainly be remembered for a blunder in the endgame.
In the group stage, Germany scored 11 (including eight past Saudi Arabia). He conceded just thrice in the entire tournament, and one goal until the final: Robbie Keane grabbed that for Ireland in extra-time. Instead, they made it all the way to the Yokohama final, largely thanks to Kahn’s near-impenetrable goalmouth. Memorably de-trousered 5-1 in Munich by England during qualifying, the Germans went to Korea and Japan with their lowest expectations in decades, merely hoping to avoid further shame.
The only net-minder in history to win the Golden Ball for being the best player in a World Cup, and deservedly so.