The 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ has shown what a quality player Diego Forlan is, proving many doubters in England wrong.

Wherever Forlan has played he has scored lots of goals, except the biggest club he has played for in Manchester United. Forlan is from a family of football players, his dad represented Uruguay at the 1966 and 1974 FIFA World Cups. His grandad played for the Argentinian side Independiente, which is where Diego started his professional career after moving through the ranks from the youth team.

It was his sensational scoring record at the Argentinian club which led to his big money move to Old Trafford. Forlan made 80 appearances for Independiente, scoring 37 goals in the process, and United paid £6.9m for the Uruguayan and expected a return on their money. But Forlan had a horrible experience in England, becoming known as ‘Diego Forlorn’.

He made his debut in January 2002 but did not score his first goal for the club until September of the same year. However, in his time in England he did score some important goals for United, including a winner against Chelsea and two goals to see off Liverpool. But overall in his time in Manchester Forlan only managed to score 10 goals in 63 appearances.

In August 2004 Diego Forlan got a move away from the Premier League and has not looked back since. In his first season at the club Forlan scored 25 goals, making him the top scorer in the Spanish league and winning him the Pichichi. He also jointly won the European Golden Boot with Thierry Henry. His goals helped Villarreal qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time.

In the following two seasons Forlan continued to score goals. After the sale of Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid to Liverpool, Forlan was heavily linked with the Madrid side. He left Villarreal after three seasons with the club which saw him score 54 goals in 106 games. Forlan continued his terrific record in Spain, 32 goals in 33 appearances for Atletico winning the Pichichi for the second time, the first person to do so since the great Ronaldo. He also won the European Golden Boot for the second time.

Forlan showed two English clubs just what the Premier League had missed out on by helping his new club beat Liverpool and Fulham in the semi-final and final of the UEFA Europa League. His two goals over the two legs helped knock Liverpool out in the semi-final. He then scored two against Fulham in the Europa League final.

Forlan has put his doubters to rest with 66 goals in 102 appearances since joining the capital club. He is also an accomplished marksman on the international stage and the FIFA World Cup in South Africa has shown that he can perform on the biggest stages.

He scored five goals in seven games on his way to winning the Golden Ball as player of the tournament and taking his team much further than anyone expected with an appearance in the semi-finals. Most importantly he has shown his critics in England what a great player he is.

Diego Forlan thumped his right boot against the advertising hoarding in Suwon. The 23-year-old striker’s frustration was understandable. He had just spurned a glorious chance to score for Uruguay against Senegal. It was ultimately one that cost his country a 4-3 victory and a place in the Round of 16 of the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan™.

That miss was unsurprising to the Manchester United fans who had just begun watching him on a regular basis. Forlan, after all, was in the midst of a run of 27 goalless games before he broke his duck for the club. Many back in June 2002 might have questioned whether the player would ever appear on football’s most prestigious stage again. Nobody envisaged that he would one day illuminate it.

But that is exactly what Forlan, whose country failed to qualify for the 2006 finals, did in South Africa. And his remarkable efforts in the Celeste jersey have been rewarded with the FIFA World Cup’s top individual prize, the adidas Golden Ball previously won by the likes of Diego Maradona, Romario, Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane.

Forlan scored five goals during the competition to go second on his country’s list of all-time leading marksmen and propel Uruguay on an unforeseen run to the semi-finals. That, along with his cute through-balls and clever movement, proved enough to earn him 23.4 per cent of the vote, which was made by members of the media during the Final between Spain and the Netherlands. Wesley Sneijder and David Villa, with 21.8 per cent and 16.9 per cent respectively, seized the adidas Silver and Bronze Balls respectively.

“It is as amazing as it is unexpected,” enthused Forlan after becoming the first recipient of the adidas Golden Ball to have not played in the Final. ”I never thought something like this would be possible. I might have dreamt about competing for the Golden Boot, which would have been conceivable, but to be named the best player is just incredible. I will enjoy it. I am happy but I know I owe this to the spectacular accomplishments of the whole team. It’s a prize that demonstrates what a good time it is for Uruguayan football.”

Uruguay’s success story seemed hugely unlikely heading into the penultimate round of South American qualifying. The out-of-sorts Celeste faced an uphill struggle to finish fifth in the ten-team group and duly go into a play-off for a place in South Africa. Sixty-eight minutes into their game in Ecuador, that uphill struggle was further complicated when the hosts took the lead. Uruguay required victory and, after Luis Suarez equalised, Forlan held his nerve and dispatched a late penalty to snatch the result that ultimately proved enough to book a play-off date with Costa Rica, which they won.

Still, Uruguay were outsiders to advance from a group that featured France and Mexico, two teams above them on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, and a South Africa side buoyed by their vibrant fans and the fact that no host nation had ever failed to reach the knockout phase. After a goalless draw with France, in which Forlan impressed with his elusive movement and ability to hold the ball up, the Atletico Madrid player scored a superb goal to break the deadlock against South Africa. He then coolly buried a penalty to put the game beyond Bafana Bafana’s reach en route to a 3-0 victory.

Forlan had a hand in the Suarez goal that secured Uruguay victory over Mexico and top spot in their pool, and then he created his strike partner’s first in a 2-1 defeat of Korea Republic in the Round of 16. The former Independiente attacker then excelled against Ghana in the last eight, scoring a sumptuous free-kick in a 1-1 draw, and scoring his side’s first penalty in the shoot-out they won 4-2.

Uruguay fell 3-2 to the Netherlands in the last four. Defeat was, however, no reflection on Forlan’s performance. With the South Americans losing 1-0 and his team-mates’ heads down, he thumped home another brilliant goal from distance to bring them back into the game, and was an incessant source of torment to the Dutch thereafter. The match for third place was a parallel tale: Uruguay lost, Forlan thrived. His penchant for wonder goals continued, this time an exquisite volley putting Las Charrúas 2-1 up before Joachim Low’s side rallied for a 3-2 victory.

Uruguay’s players had narrowly missed out on medals, but one prize would land in the hands of their blond forward. The stacked sanctuary of FIFA World Cup greats had a new, unexpected entrant.

Diego Forlan left Cape Town devastated last night but at least able to look back on the best year of his career. Not even a good luck text from Sir Alex Ferguson could help Forlan inspire Uruguay to victory against the Netherlands, with the Dutch going on to register a 3-2 win.

The Atletico Madrid star did manage to score his fourth goal of the tournament to cancel out Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s opener, but goals from Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben, left Forlan to pick the positives out of a season where he won the UEFA Europa League, before reaching the last four of the FIFA World Cup™, eclipsing the achievements of South American rivals Brazil and Argentina.

“It has been the best year of my career,” said the 31-year-old. “Winning the Europa League with Atletico Madrid, reaching that final and then reaching another semi-final of the World Cup is just great. But we are still so disappointed because we were so close to a World Cup final and we have missed a great chance.”

Forlan did not complete last night’s game after succumbing to a thigh problem he had before the match started. Without suspended strike partner Luis Suarez, coach Oscar Tabarez had no choice but to pile the responsibility onto his captain and Forlan ended up paying the price, making him a major doubt for Saturday’s third-place play-off in Port Elizabeth.

“I had some tiredness in my thigh when I started the game and it was difficult,” he said. “I was limping and I was trying to stay in the game but in the end I could not help anybody. I hope to be fit for Saturday, I want to play for that third place because even that would be great for everyone. Then I hope to have a big holiday because I am really tired.”