As we hurtle towards the final, in the manner of a young Alan Smith in his Leeds heyday going in for a tackle, aside from the eventual world champions, we still have the top scorer and the player of the tournament to decide.
Despite not making the final, Germany and Uruguay both have strong contenders for both awards.
If we ignore Spain's David Villa and Holland's Wesley Sneijder (don't panic its only for a minute!) then it could be Germany's Miroslav Klose v his young teammate Thomas Mueller for the Golden Boot.
Both men have scored four goals in the tournament thus far and both scored against England.
Klose is one goal shy of Ronaldo's all time World Cup tally. - that's the chunky Brazilian Ronaldo with the teeth mind you, not the posing, pouting, pratt who was largely pointless for Portugal. Don't you just love alliteration?
However Klose has also succumbed to the disadvantges of being one of the older members of a German squad who look like they need parental consent for the overseas trip, by sustaining a back injury.
This could rule the elder player out, giving Mueller free rein to torment Uruguay - More on Muelller later.
Alternatively Manchester United flop and the best player Middlesbrough ever had stolen from a airport, probably, Uruguay's Diego Forlan could increase his own tally and scoop the third Golden Boot of his career, and his first for a World Cup spree.
Do these guys put them on their mantlepieces? sent them to Cash for Gold? Use them as paperweights for their favourite laminated 'Hello' 'exclusives'?
Anyway, the problem is that he's injured too.
Uruguay also have an outside hope in the new Thierry Henry, Luis Suarez. Although, Suarez would need a hat-trick, and none of the others to find the net, to take the prize as well as his teammates took the piss when they carried him aloft their shoulders following his dismissal against Ghana.
But most likely, the Golden Boot is a straight fight between Villa and Sneijder, the latter of whom may be awarded the strike if anyone Spanish makes a mistake, after all these things are suppose to come in threes!
Villa looks like he might run away with it, if it is awarded on goals of actual merit that the scorer physically scored, but that would be far too simple!
Not that I blame Sneijder, all good footballers claim goals that do not belong to them, a bit like Robert Green.
Moving on and we come to the nominees for the best player in the tournament.
Unsurprisingly Villa, Sneijder and Forlan are there but so too are the goalless Messi representing high scoring Argentina, and sympathy vote, Ghana's Asamoah Gyan who missed the penalty from Suarez' handball.
Spanish midfielders Xavi and Andres Iniesta are included, with Holland's Arjen Robben going for a personal double. Robben is also up for the Dutch equivalent of a BAFTA (DAFTA?) for his anguished performance in the semi-final against Uruguay.
And here come the Germans again, with the strange-eyed but brilliantly footed Mesut Ozil up against 'Pig Mounter' Bastian Schweinsteiger, who has, as the kids say these days, been 'immense'.
We also have the best youngster to saddle with an impossible-to-live-up-to tag of the best young player in the 2010 World Cup.
You would be forgiven for believing that England's Adam Johnson would be in with a shout due to those magic six minutes against Mexico in the pre-tournament friendlies, because due to his absence from the tournament, he has become England's best player, despite being untested at anything like this level.
But no, the favourite is a twenty-year-old Bayern Munich midfielder called Thomas, who shares his surname with the self proclaimed 'best selling yoghurt brand in the UK' according to Tiffany from Eastenders, circa the mid to late 1990s.
This British love of yoghurt did not, however, extend to Mueller, particularly as he scored the last two goals in the 4-1 humilation which were the last two nails in England's coffin, although not, apparently, Fabio Capello's.
But I rather like him, umlauts and all.
Mueller is a bit of a Cinderella story in that he was a reserve player less than a year and a half ago.
A classy player and full of confidence, Mueller also appears to be intelligent and articulate, expressing his desire for Holland to win as it would reflect well on his club Bayern Munich to have two 2010 World Cup winners, in Arjen Robben and Mark van Bommel, in the squad.
Hopefully he won't join a Premier League club who will systematically beat these qualities out of him.
The other contenders are Ghana's Andre Ayew and Mexico's Giovani Dos Santos, both of whom would probably be voted MVP by their respective nations, but surely Mueller's got this one licked?
First published on www.SportingPreview.com on 10/7/2010
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