A salute to our iconic stadium

Imagine washing that shirt after every game

A powerball from Yasuhito Endo of Japan

A tussle between Nigeria’s Yussuf Ayila and Korea Republic’s captain Park Ji Sung

Portugal’s Fabio Coentrao struggles to contain Brazil’s Maicon

Dirk Kuyt of The Netherlands, one of the players of the tournament, is quickly on to Slovakia’s Miroslav Stoch

Gregory van der Wiel of the Netherlands about to clear

Many pundits are applauding South Africa for successfully hosting what they believe is the greatest Soccer World Cup ever. If that is so, then the Moses Mabhida Stadium must surely be the ranked as one of, if not, the best stadium that hosted the World Cup games. KZN and Zululand soccer fans were blessed with some of the competition’s top teams doing battle at the iconic stadium, including Germany, Portugal, Brazil and the Netherlands.

2010 FIFA World Cup stats

Mongi Mbokazi

Congratulations to Spain for being crowned world champs. No other World Cup winner needed fewer goals than Spain (8) to win the title. Brazil (1994) and England (1966), with 11 goals each, had been the most economical so far. Spain are the third team to win the World Cup after losing one match (Germany 1954/74, Argentina 1978). But the standing ovation goes to the country who hosted, arguably, the best World Cup of all time. Despite all the criticism and belief that we couldn’t pull this off, we managed to prove them wrong. We enjoyed the lowest crime rate during the World Cup month and offered the best service to our visitors. The on field action threw up many surprises, with many of the favourites packing their bags in the early stages of the competition. Now that the dust has settled, we look at some of the amazing World Cup Stats.

Best manager
Diego Maradona (Argentina)

David Brent award for worst manager
Raymond Domenech (France)

Batman & Robin gold award for best team
Spain

Worst team
England

Best post-match apology, sponsored by BP
Luis Suarez (Uruguay)

Best handling of the press
Iker Casillas (Spain)

Worst title defence
Italy

Otto Rehhagel award for anti-football
Otto Rehhagel (Greece)

Best dance moves
South Africa

Best celebration
Ghana

Award for best revolt, inspired by the French Revolution
France

Worst revolt
England

Best goal
Fabio Quagliarella (Italy vs Slovakia)

Worst refereeing mistake
Mauricio Espinosa (Uruguay)

Golden Ball
Diego Forlan (Uruguay)

Golden Boot
Thomas Mueller (Germany)

Golden Glove
Iker Casillas (Spain)

FIFA fair play award
Spain

Best young player award
Thomas Mueller (Germany)

Prize money
• $8 million - to each team exiting after the group stage (16 teams);
• $9 million - to each team exiting after the Round of 16 (8 teams);
• $14 million - to each team exiting after the quarter-finals (4 teams);
• $18 million - fourth placed team (Uruguay);
• $20 million - third placed team (Germany);
• $24 million - runner-up (The Netherlands);
• $30 million - winner (Spain).