The summer of Diego Forlan, the master of Jabulani

• Diego Forlan was voted FIFA World Cup 2010’s best player

• Forlan scored four as Uruguay finished fourth in 2010

• The Uruguayan retired with 112 caps and 36 goals for the national team

Akshat Mehrish Concocted with innovation and sorcery, the Jabulani was unpredictable by nature. It whizzed through the air, rising, dipping, and swerving side to side, on its own account, making it a challenge to tame its erratic nature. The lead-up to the FIFA World Cup 2010 was awash with discussions about the ball, with several players and coaches complaining about its qualities and how they, ultimately, may prove detrimental over the course of the tournament. With a swift swing of his boot a week into the contest, Diego Forlan silenced the conversation surrounding the Jabulani’s deficiencies and shifted it, instead, to the prowess of those hitting it.

Diego Forlan, competing at the 2010 World Cup as a ninth-year Uruguay international, was a seasoned forward, who had risen from his humble beginnings at Penarol and Danubio at home, captured the world’s attention with his talent at Independiente, dusted off a quiet spell at Manchester United, and was finally flourishing in Spain. The striker had entered Europe through the English giants in 2001, but a poor return of 17 goals in nearly a hundred appearances meant that, within three years, they had decided his talents weren’t up to their standards. Diego Forlan immediately proved Manchester United’s decision to offload him to Villarreal in the summer of 2004 wrong, scoring 25 alone in his first season. After spending three prolific years with Villarreal, Forlan joined fellow La Liga outfit Atletico Madrid in 2007, where he would form a deadly partnership with Argentinian Sergio Aguero for the years to come. When the 2010 FIFA World Cup rolled around, the Uruguayan was still terrorising defenders in the red-and-white of Atleti, having led the club to its latest continental title earlier in the summer.

Uruguay’s 2010 World Cup campaign began with a stalemate versus the 2006 finalists France, neither side asserting enough dominance over the other to fashion a credible chance at either end. Forlan, shackled by the French defenders, didn’t take long to master the Jabulani’s craft, however. In Uruguay’s second game against hosts South Africa, the forward collected the ball 25 yards away from the goal and unleashed a sublime effort that left Itumeleng Khune gazing from the spot as the ball swung and plunged into the net. That was Forlan’s second FIFA World Cup goal; the first, scored eight years ago against Senegal, was an equally audacious effort on the volley that displayed his elite ball-striking characteristic. The Uruguayan would grab his third in the match against South Africa later in the second half from the spot, helping his nation close out a 3-0 win.

Uruguay advanced to the knockout stages in South Africa courtesy of a narrow win over Mexico, Luis Suarez, the scorer of the sole goal. Suarez scored again (twice) in the round-of-16, as the South Americans beat Korea Republic 2-1 to book their place among the last eight. Diego Forlan returned among the goals in the quarters by bending a free-kick from an impossible angle to cancel Ghana’s advantage, which the latter had accrued through a Sulley Muntari effort in the first half. The veteran forward later converted the first kick of the penalty shootout as Uruguay booked their place in the semi-final of a FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1950.

In the penultimate round, Forlan further displayed his mastery of the ball by converting a superb effort from range with his left foot. His goal had brought Uruguay level against the Netherlands, but the two-time FIFA World Cup winners couldn’t capitalise on the momentum it had generated. Instead, they conceded twice late to suffer a 3-2 defeat. Forlan scored his fifth and final goal of the World Cup in the third-place playoff against Germany from the edge of the box, acrobatically volleying the ball into the net off an Egidio Arevalo Rios cross. Forlan finished joint-top-scorer at the tournament but didn’t take the Golden Boot home. That honour, instead, went to Thomas Muller, owing to his better assist figures. The Uruguayan did not return home empty-handed, however; for his efforts across the tournament, he was voted its best player and thus awarded the Golden Ball. Diego Forlan went back to Atletico Madrid in the aftermath of the 2010 FIFA World Cup for one more season before embarking on short spells throughout the world. He popped up in places like Italy, India, and Hong Kong, among others, before hanging up his boots in 2018.