Forlan and Sneijder lead fan's Man of the Match tournament poll

(AFP PHOTO)

The performances of Diego Forlan and Wesley Sneijder during the World Cup quarter finals secured passage toward a semi-final meeting on Tuesday July 6 for Uruguay and the Netherlands, and the Man of the Match award for each player, bringing their tournament totals to three each.

The Man of the Match awards are voted for by visitors to the FIFA website during the second half of each game - Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Keisuke Honda of Japan also have three awards but their sides were dumped out during the first knock out round.

Sneijder has 4 goals to his name having been credited with both in Netherlands' 2-1 victory over Brazil.

Forlan has also been outstanding throughout the group and knockout rounds, an inspirational presence popping up with 3 goals. Based on current form, both stand a decent chance of putting in another award-winning display.

Bastian Schweinsteiger received his fist Man of the Match award of the tournament after an unselfish and incisive display against Argentina as Germany won 4-0.

Though he has not yet scored, three assists have come from him, a tally matched only by fellow Germans Özil, Müller, and the Brazilian Kaká.

Andres Iniesta was given his second Man of the Match award after Spain beat Paraguay 1-0, coming to life towards the end of the game, proving instrumental in the build-up to the winning goal.

His potency from midfield is heightened by the fact that team-mate David Villa is the tournament's leading scorer with 5 goals, yet had won Man of the Match just once prior to the semi-finals.

So far, the accolade has been won by 5 times by a German, Dutch, or Uruguayan player.

Of the 60 recipients, 14 play their club football in England, but two of those were loan players (the USA's Landon Donovan and Serbia's Vladimir Stojkovic). The next best represented country is Spain, with 13. Germany hosts 5 players, like Schweinsteiger, and 5 play in Italy, like Sneijder.

The Netherlands play Uruguay at 8.30pm South African time on Tuesday July 6 (11.30am PDT, 2.30pm EDT, 7.30pm BST, 3.30am Japan). Germany play Spain at the same time on Wednesday 7.

Anyone can vote for the FIFA Man of the Match by choosing a player during the second half of each game at FIFA.com/man.

Man of the Match Award Winners: semi-finalists

3 Diego Forlan, Uruguay
3 Wesley Sneijder, Netherlands
2 Andres Iniesta, Spain
2 Luis Suarez, Uruguay *
1 Thomas Müller, Germany *
1 Mehmut Özil, Germany
1 Lukas Podolski, Germany
1 Arjen Robben, Netherlands
1 Bastian Schweinsteiger, Germany
1 Robin Van Persie, Netherlands
1 David Villa, Spain
1 Xavi Hernandez, Spain
Source: FIFA.com/man
*Suspended from semi-finals