Despite Korea then having chances to win the match, it was Suárez who scored Uruguay's winner in the 80th minute with a curling strike from the edge of the 18-yard box that went in off the inside of the post.

[3] Korea missed more good chances in the final minutes of the game, giving Uruguay victory and passage to the quarter-finals for the first time since 1970, where they would face Ghana.

[3][4] After the match, the Uruguayan coach Óscar Tabárez attributed his team's successful run to the number of players with experience at top-level overseas clubs.

[6] Man of the Match: Luis Suárez (Uruguay) Assistant referees: Jan-Hendrik Salver (Germany) Mike Pickel (Germany) Fourth official: Joel Aguilar (El Salvador) Fifth official: Juan Zumba (El Salvador) The match between the United States and Ghana was played on 26 June 2010 at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg.

Germany took the lead in the 20th minute after English defenders Matthew Upson and John Terry were at fault in allowing Miroslav Klose to latch on to a long goal kick from Manuel Neuer and score.

[13] A controversial moment then occurred in the 39th minute: a shot by Frank Lampard was not awarded as a goal despite the ball bouncing off the crossbar and clearly crossing the line by at least a foot.

The ghost goal incident in this match was a major factor in the FIFA and IFAB decision to test and later implement new rules allowing goal-line technology to be used in football.

[20] Argentina's second goal came from a defensive error from Ricardo Osorio as a poor pass out of defence was snatched by Gonzalo Higuaín to round the keeper and score.

The Dutch had chances to extend their lead in the second half, with the most prominent coming when Robben cut inside on his left foot just like he did when he scored the first goal, but this time, Slovak goalkeeper Ján Mucha saved the shot going to his far post.

[27][28] Man of the Match: Arjen Robben (Netherlands) Assistant referees: Fermín Martínez Ibáñez (Spain) Juan Carlos Yuste Jiménez (Spain) Fourth official: Stéphane Lannoy (France) Fifth official: Laurent Ugo (France) Brazil soundly defeated Chile 3–0 on 28 June 2010 at Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg to progress to a quarter-final match against the Netherlands.

Brazil had doubled its lead within five minutes after a free-flowing passing movement involving Robinho and Kaká that teed up Luís Fabiano to score after taking the ball around the Chilean goalkeeper.

Spain dominated their neighbours with a ball possession ratio of 62% and several opportunities but had to endure a pair of missed chances by the Portuguese in the first half, including one by Hugo Almeida which nearly resulted in a goal.

The only goal of the match came in the 63rd minute: David Villa picked up a brilliant pass by Xavi, having his first shot saved, but then lifted the rebound into the roof of the net.

[39][40][41][42][43][44] Man of the Match: Xavi (Spain) Assistant referees: Ricardo Casas (Argentina) Hernán Maidana (Argentina) Fourth official: Carlos Batres (Guatemala) Fifth official: Carlos Pastrana (Honduras) The Netherlands versus Brazil was the first quarter-final match, held on 2 July 2010 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.

[47][48] For the rest of the first half, the Dutch were largely frustrated by the Brazilian defence, and needed to rely on Maarten Stekelenburg's goalkeeping to prevent Brazil from extending its lead.

"[52] Man of the Match: Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands) Assistant referees: Toru Sagara (Japan) Jeong Hae-sang (South Korea) Fourth official: Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia) Fifth official: Hassan Kamranifar (Iran) Uruguay and Ghana met on 2 July 2010 at Soccer City, Johannesburg for a place in the semi-final against the Netherlands.

After half-time, Diego Forlán pulled Uruguay level with a free kick from the left side of the field that went over the head of Ghana's goalkeeper Richard Kingson.

Late in extra time, Ghana sent a free kick into the penalty area; Luis Suárez blocked Stephen Appiah's shot on the goal line.

[55] On the rebound, Dominic Adiyiah's header was heading into the goal, but Suárez blatantly blocked the shot with his hand[56] to save what would have been the extra-time winner[57] and he was red carded.

[60] After the game, Suárez said, "I made the save of the tournament,"[57] and, referring to the infamous handball goal scored by Diego Maradona in the 1986 World Cup, claimed that "The 'Hand of God' now belongs to me".

"[65] Man of the Match: Diego Forlán (Uruguay) Assistant referees: José Manuel Silva Cardinal (Portugal) Bertino Miranda (Portugal) Fourth official: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain) Fifth official: Fermín Martínez Ibáñez (Spain) On 3 July 2010, Germany beat Argentina 4–0 at the Cape Town Stadium to reach the semi-finals.

[71] Germany's coach Joachim Löw hailed his side's performance as one of "absolute class",[72] but admitted the suspension of Müller for picking up a yellow card was a blow.

[80] Uruguay adopted a defensive posture early in the match, but were only able to hold their opponents scoreless for 18 minutes, when Dutch captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst scored from 35 yards into the top right corner of the goal.

However, the Netherlands were unable to capitalise on their lead, as Diego Forlán equalised in the 41st minute (1–1) when his shot from 25 yards hit squarely in the middle of the goal was misjudged by goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg who missed it by millimetres.

The Netherlands regained the lead in the second half, as a pass from Rafael van der Vaart reached Wesley Sneijder who hit it into the side-netting as Muslera dived and missed it by inches.

The Netherlands suffered a late scare when Maxi Pereira, who missed a penalty against Ghana, scored a stoppage-time free kick; however, the match finished 3–2 despite desperate Uruguayan attempts to equalise.

[82] Man of the Match: Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands) Assistant referees: Rafael Ilyasov (Uzbekistan) Bakhadyr Kochkarov (Kyrgyzstan) Fourth official: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan) Fifth official: Toru Sagara (Japan) On 7 July 2010, Spain defeated Germany 1–0 in a rematch of the UEFA Euro 2008 Final (also won 1-0 by Spain) at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban to progress to the World Cup Final against the Netherlands.

The corner, taken by Xavi, was met by Carles Puyol, who headed the ball into the net as Manuel Neuer didn't do much to protect it to give Spain the lead.

[84] Man of the Match: Xavi (Spain) Assistant referees: Gábor Erős (Hungary) Tibor Vámos (Hungary) Fourth official: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium) Fifth official: Peter Hermans (Belgium) On 10 July 2010, at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, Germany defeated Uruguay 3–2 to claim third place at the World Cup for the second successive time after also finishing third at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Diego Forlán then put them ahead six minutes into the second half with a beautiful side volley from the edge of the penalty box while goalkeeper Hans-Jörg Butt didn't move off his line.