The vuvuzelas finally died down and South Africa's elation turned to despondency after a disastrous defeat by Uruguay.
Diego Maradona said on Sunday he will fly to London next month to study an offer from an English Premier League club, Argentine media reported.
Whether France prove the doubters wrong with a fine World Cup run or make another embarrassing exit remained anybody's guess after their opening 0-0 draw with Uruguay on Friday.
Prolific striker Luis Suarez has agreed a new contract with Barcelona until 2021, the Spanish champions announced on Thursday. The Uruguay international will sign the new deal, which will keep him at the club until he is 34 years old and contains a release clause of 200 million euros ($207 million), on Friday. Suarez has scored 97 goals in 116 games for Barcelona since signing from Liverpool in 2014 for a reported 81 million euros ($84 million), and has collected eight major trophies.
Edinson Cavani silenced his critics when he scored four goals in Paris St Germain's 6-0 victory at Caen in Ligue 1 on Friday.
France meet Belgium in a World Cup semi-final on Tuesday. Here is a look at some of the key head-to-head duels which could prove decisive.
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi will be out of action for two to three weeks with a small hamstring problem in his right leg, the Spanish champions said in a statement on Sunday.
Barcelona's star striker Messi is an alien who plays with us humans, says the Juventus 'keeper
Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi advanced to the semi-finals while Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi sealed a quarter-final berth in the Valencia Open.
World champions Spain returned to the top of the FIFA rankings on Wednesday while Brazil dropped to third place and Italy slumped to 11th. World Cup finalists the Netherlands also leapfrogged Brazil for second, a rise of two places, while England surprisingly moved up a rung to seventh despite a disappointing tournament in South Africa.
Uruguay's Diego Forlan won the adidas Golden Ball, awarded to the outstanding player at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
They can now dream of going one better than their third-place finish in 1998, which marked their first participation in the World Cup finals as an independent nation.
Sunday's World Cup final between Netherlands and Spain pits two tactically similar teams against each other
The problem lies in the fact that unlike in telecom, centre- and state-owned public utilities continue to dominate the power business.
IMAGES from the FIFA World Cup Group B match played between Portugal and Iran in Saransk on Monday
The wife of a linesman, who wrongly disallowed Frank Lampard''s goal against Germany, revealed on Thursday that she instantly knew he had blundered.
The prospect of setting a new benchmark for African participation at the World Cup was a major motivation for Ghana ahead of Friday's quarter-final against Uruguay, striker Asamoah Gyan said.
In the search for tactical supremacy, soccer's big guns and some young pretenders have turned to the chapter marked 'counter-attack' to blast their way into the World Cup quarter-finals.
The complete fixtures of the World Cup in SOuth Africa.
Oscar Tabarez is just happy to be at the World Cup after a marathon qualification process, the Uruguay coach said on Tuesday after his side beat Mexico 1-0 to make the last 16 as Group A winners.
France concluded a disastrous World Cup campaign with one more controversy on Tuesday when coach Raymond Domenech refused to shake hands with his opposite number after South Africa's 2-1 victory.
Jackson Martinez scored twice as Colombia beat Japan 4-1 to top World Cup Group C with maximum points on Tuesday. The victory earned them a second-round meeting with Uruguay in Rio de Janeiro and ended Japan's interest in the tournament.
South Africa said they were caught cold by Uruguay's early goal in Wednesday's World Cup clash in Pretoria and found themselves unable to fight their way back into the game.
Centre back William Gallas pulled out of a France training session on Monday with a sore muscle, a team spokesman said.
Football-frenzied fans in India were slow on catching up with the excitement as the FIFA World Cup 2010 kicked off in Johannesburg on Friday. But when they did get into the act, TV-viewership rates shot up from previous highs.
Japan beat 10-man Colombia 2-1 in Group H on Tuesday to become the first Asian side to beat a South American one at the World Cup.
France failed to rise to the occasion again on Friday when a lacklustre performance in a tepid 0-0 draw with Uruguay handed the initiative to their lesser-ranked World Cup Group A rivals.
Defensive injury concerns for veteran squad leader Vincent Kompany and Barcelona's Thomas Vermaelen have eased and coach Roberto Martinez has sent standby defender Laurent Ciman home.
Images from football matches played in the La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga on Saturday.
Tennis star Aisamul Haq has become the first from Pakistan to reach the semi-finals of any Grand Slam event.
In a historic first for international football, seven women officials have been picked as support referees for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in India, which kicks off on October 6.
Salah, 25, struck four goals in Liverpool's 5-0 thrashing of Watford that lifted them back into third place in the Premier League on Saturday.
The fixtures of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, in South Africa, from June 11 to July 11.
The fixtures of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, in South Africa, from June 11 to July 11.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
Diego Forlan scrambled an early goal to give Atletico Madrid a deserved 1-0 win over a lethargic-looking Liverpool in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final on Thursday.
Luis Suarez has received a second European Golden Shoe of his career after becoming the leading scorer in Europe's top domestic leagues last season.
Andy Murray is more afraid of losing his wedding ring than a tennis match these days but that did not stop him from storming to a 10th successive win on clay at the Rome Masters on Wednesday.
Officially timed at 52 seconds, Jose Batista remains the fastest sending off in World Cup history.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst is hoping for a fairytale ending to his playing career when he leads Netherlands out in Sunday's World Cup final with Spain.
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