Telegraph Sport's Rory Smith casts his eyes back over five eventful weeks and takes us through his highs and lows from World Cup 2010.

Good show: Diego Forlan became Uruguay's talisman on their march to the World Cup semi-finals

1. Player of the Tournament

Diego Forlan (Uruguay)
Wesley Sneijder, David Villa and Xavi may have inspired their teams to the final, but Forlan’s four goals took Uruguay – population 3.5 million – to the semi-finals, allowing one of the world’s most traditional football nations a long-overdue moment in the spotlight.

2. Biggest disappointment

Argentina
Diego Maradona’s team may not have been as dreadful as France, Italy or England, but they disappointed more than all of them, by looking like the team of the tournament and then stalling when it mattered.

3. Best goal

Carlos Tevez (Argentina v Mexico)
Though Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s heat-seeker in the semi-final was better, Tevez’s spin and shot was certainly the best goal I saw in the flesh. Pure, instinctive technical excellence.

4. Worst game

Paraguay v Japan
The two words which could be best used to describe these teams are “evenly-matched”. Cue 120 minutes of relatively excitement-free stalemate, rescued only by the thoroughly enjoyable drama of penalties.

5. Favourite non-football memory
Visiting Soweto to watch the opening game in an unofficial fan park erased any doubts that ordinary South Africans were buying into the excitement of the world’s biggest sporting event.

6. What I won't miss about South Africa
The roads. Forget the signs warning drivers about carjackers, somebody needs to have a word with Pretoria’s equivalent of the DVLA to make the driving test significantly more challenging.

7. Best fans
The thousands of Mexicans who descended on Johannesburg made a fight of it, but for the songs, the flags and the desire to bounce throughout their national anthem, Argentina’s support was peerless.

8. Unforgettable moment
Landon Donovan’s last-minute winner against Algeria, the goal that effectively knocked England out of the tournament, was the first really emotive moment of the World Cup. The tears that followed were mildly uncomfortable.

9. Rising star

Diego Godin (Uruguay)
He and his defensive partner Diego Lugano struggled with injury throughout, but whenever he played, the Villarreal centre back looked composed on the ball and fearsome in the tackle.

10. Biggest managerial cock-up
Marcello Lippi forgetting to tell his players to attack before Slovakia went two ahead. Fabio Capello abandoning two years of planning in the two weeks before the tournament. Raymond Domenech. Take your pick.