Heading into the final, when most votes were likely already tabulated, it was going to take a massive swing from either David Villa, Xavi, Wesley Sneijder or Arjen Robben – the nominated finalists – to steal the Golden Ball away from the tournament’s best player, Diego Forlan.
Didn’t happen.
Diego Forlan won the adidas Golden Ball from fourth place after almost carrying his team, like he’s done with Atletico Madrid, through on his back. Wesley Sneijder came in second and David Villa third.

We’ve been lucky in that the tournament’s best team won the title, so no gripes there, and the tournament’s best player won the top individual award, so we’re square on all fronts.
Forlan was tremendous throughout, shooting audaciously but doing it with accuracy and doing it with success on occasion, including the best technical goal of the World Cup in the 3rd place game. Of course he’s always been this good, at least he has since leaving English shores, and this shouldn’t be a tremendous surprise. He’s simply one of the best forwards in the world, and played accordingly.