South Africa's remarkable championship - from the 'instrument of hell' to the prognostications of Paul the octopus
1 The vuvuzela
For many South Africa 2010 will always be synonymous with the plastic horn. Fifa rejected calls for the horn – described by a South African journalist as "the instrument of hell" – to be banned. The fact that the collective noise sounded like a swarm of mosquitoes did not stop the vuvuzela from being sold in the UK ‑ and even becoming an iPhone app.
2 The Jabulani
Barely a World Cup goes by without criticism of the official ball, but the Jabulani – meaning "be happy" or "rejoice" in Zulu – came in for particular flak. The "roundest ball ever" was criticised by players and coaches alike in the runup to the tournament. A series of high-profile and costly blunders by players, including one from England's Robert Green, meant the condemnation continued, although, as usual, by the end of the tournament the ball had been accepted.
3 Managers on trend
Before the World Cup, Joachim Low was perhaps best known sartorially for his array of skinny scarves. But once the competition began the German coach and his assistant were dazzling in blue knitwear. "I'm not driven by superstition but the coaching staff want me to wear the blue sweater because we always score four goals when I do," he told the Sun. The sweater's luck ran out in the semi final, when Germany were beaten by Spain.
4 North Korea score against Brazil
Not many people backed the Democratic Republic of Korea – team officials refused to acknowledge the name North Korea ‑ against the five-time winners. But after Brazil went 2-0 up, Ji Yun-nam thrashed home a shot with the kind of velocity North Korea usually reserves for test-firing missiles. The Dear Leader would have been less pleased with the team's performance in their next match, which they lost 7-0.
5 Lampard's goal that never was
After England struggled through the qualifiers, the nation found itself in the next round facing the old enemy. England deserved to lose to Germany, but Lampard's shot crossed the line and would have made the score 2-2 at half-time, if the officials had spotted it. The one positive was Sepp Blatter promising Fifa would reopen the discussion on goal-line technology.
6 Ghana's run
The first World Cup to be held in Africa proved a poor one for African teams. South Africa, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Algeria failed to get through their groups. Ghana's Black Stars beat the USA in the last 16, earning pan-African enthusiasm along the way. It looked as if the world's second team could become the first African nation to reach the semi-finals, until they met Uruguay …
7 Hand of God mark II
Luis Suarez executed a textbook, point-blank save in the last minute of extra time, preventing Ghana from scoring a winner. The problem was Suarez is a striker. He was red-carded, but his wild celebrations in the tunnel after Asamoah Gyan missed the resulting penalty, and claims afterwards that he had produced "the best save of the tournament", left a bitter taste.
8 Maradona's fifth World Cup
Many were prepared for the Argentina manager to embarrass himself or his country after an iffy qualifying campaign. While some aspects of his coaching style remained unorthodox, for example ending each day's session by forcing some players and coaches to offer up their backsides for the rest of the team to wallop balls at, the team were a revelation until conceding four goals to Germany. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
9 Robbie Earle's fans
When 36 women clad in orange mini dresses were ejected from the Holland v Denmark match for being part of an ambush marketing effort by a Dutch beer company, the incident wasn't a huge story. Then it emerged that the women had apparently all used tickets allocated to ITV pundit Robbie Earle for the use of his friends and family. Earle was sacked. Two of the 36 were arrested, but charges later dropped.
10 Paul the psychic octopus
The Weymouth-born, German-bred octopus correctly guessed the winner in all of Germany's matches. His psychic abilities came at a price however: Argentinian fans threatened to put Paul in a paella. "There are always people who want to eat our octopus," his keeper, Oliver Walenciak, said. "But he is not shy and we are here to protect him as well. He will survive." He picked Spain to win last night.
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