I'm not going to write much about the final- except to say that the best divers did indeed win. Ironically, it was France that scored through a penalty-from-a-dive, but the Italians needn't fear that their place at the top is going to snatched away. They're still the best simulators in my opinion.

I am going to write about a few of the more interesting and important (to me at least) issues from the world cup.

1. The controversies- how can you possibly escape controversy at a world cup. The two are practically synonymous. We've had two-footed lunge tackles, tackles from behind, offside rulings and time wasting in past world cups, but never has there been an issue as hotly debated as simulation. With at least three games decided by dives, and plenty more instances of simulation in almost every match, it is easily the biggest controversy at a world cup since the "Hand of God". FIFA complicated things by their inept handling of the affair. It was obvious that the referees were incapable of dealing with the situation on the ground; surely this was the hardest directive ever given to referees before a world cup. The only ref who handled diving well, Brazilian Carlos Simon, had a shocker in other areas of refereeing and was not given important matches. It is certainly something they will have to think through very soon with the European club season set to resume in a few weeks.

Even the best young player of the tournament was decided on the basis of simulation- I discussed this in an earlier post. The other big controversy was the frequency with which referees lost control of matches, with violent behaviour and needless yellow and red cards being the result. Portugal and Holland played out one of the most heated matches ever seen at a world cup with 16 yellows and 4 red cards- so how many players is that who escaped a booking??

2. The big blunders. Whether Roberto Baggio missing a penalty or the Dutch choking in a semi-final they should easily won or a red-faced David Seaman being caught off his line, world cups always produce some classic bloopers. This time it was no different- even the managers got in on the action. Pekerman and Parreira hamstrung their extraordinarily talented squads with poor selections, tactics and substitutions. Surely the sight of Messi, Aimar, Saviola, Robinho and Cicinho languishing on the bench as their teams were in the process of losing their quarterfinal matches would've constituted the worst nightmares of Agrentine and Brazilian fans. Pauleta's two one-on-one misses with the keeper cost Portugal a place in the final, after Ronaldo and Deco had played their hearts out creating those chances. Roberto Carlos' mystifying decision to initially tag Henry and then not follow him into the box as the free kick was whipped was an equally fatal mistake. And who can forget Zeljko Kalac's attempt at catching perhaps the weakest shot form outside the area in the whole tournament; a screw-up that did not cost Australia thanks to Kewell's late equalizer. There was of course Cristiano Zaccardo's 'clearance' which travelled at 270 degrees to the intended direction and ended up in Buffon's goal. But the biggest blunder was surely committed by Zinedine Zidane in his final game of professional football. An inexplicable headbutt which left the referee without any option but to brandish the red card with a penalty shoot-out so close by was just inexcusable, no matter what Materazzi said to incite him. Zidane won his country a world cup with a virtuoso performance in '98, in '06 he lost a world cup for France.......

3. The classic goals. It is hard to go past Esteban Cambiasso's goal against Serbia, but here are a few others I thought were pretty good too. Maniche's goal against Holland was the result of some fast, incisive passing through the middle involving all of Portugal's talented midfielders. Fernando Torres' effort against Ukraine, created by Puyol's daring raid was another classic. Asamoah Gyan's goal against the Czechs at the end of a sweeping counterattack was pleasing to the eye. As was Ronaldo's superb finish against Ghana which took him past Gerhard Muller as the highest goalscorer at world cups. Bakary Kone's individual effort in a tournament where there was a dearth of solo goals stood out as well. But I dont think Mexico's goal against Italy in 2002 was surpassed in Germany 2006. Borgetti's headed goal was a stupendous demonstration of how to crack the best defence in the business; a lesson that was not heeded by any team in Germany over the last month.

4. The most impressive teams. I'll have to be brief here or I'll end up writing too much. Australia proved that they are not out of their depth amongst the world's best, as the Socceroos have claimed for years but been unable to prove. The key challenge for this team will be to maintain and consolidate their gains without Guus Hiddink at the helm. Ecuador made impressive progress after a subdued debut in '02. However, nerves got the better of them in the 2nd round- any team other than England would've thrashed them severely. The Mexicans will feel hard done by after playing 210 minutes of frighteningly fast, attacking football against higher rated opponents, Argentina and Portugal, and coming away with nothing. But their domination of youth football for the last few years is likely to come to fruition in 2010 where they will field a formidable team featuring the exciting youngsters Giovanni dos Santos and Carlos Vela. Ghana also put in creditable performances against supposedly superior opposition. But the two most impressive teams for me were Spain and Ivory Coast. Spain, with their armada of talented young players will become stronger over the next few years and be real contenders in South Africa in four years time. The Ivorians were the unluckiest of the 32 teams. They are the only team that can truly claim that they dominated the majority of all their matches and yet failed to qualify for the 2nd round. Except for their disappointing finishing, they were one of the most complete teams on display. I hope that they dont suffer from the usual African inconsistency and disappear into oblivion over the next few years.

5. The finest players. This is always a difficult topic because of the huge range of game times we see amongst various players. Whilst Robinho and Messi were easily the most impressive youngsters on show, they hardly managed a combined game time of 200 minutes. Torres was the player of the tournament for me- he displayed great pace, courage, ball skills, finishing as well as the vital ability to run into gaps at the right time. Yaya Toure and Didier Zokora, the Ivorian central midfielders, were also highly impressive with their dogged defence and speed of turnovers. Toure's passing and Zokora's running were blended together perfectly by coach Henri Michel. Steffan Appiah's tireless tournament was, in cricketing terms, a true "captain's knock". Roberto Ayala's defending was once again world class, as was Lucas Neill's, in all fairness. Vincenzo Grella capped his meteoric rise in international football with an expert exhibition of how to play as an anchorman. However, my favourite player in this world cup was Ecuadorian Luis Antonio Valencia. He has a touch of class about everything he does on the football field; one of the stars of the next world cup, I am sure.....