Viva La Espana!
But who else emerged from this World Cup smiling?
- Paul the oracle octopus - Paul's 100% accuracy for every match he predicted cost UK bookmakers William Hill an estimated £500,000 ($755,500.00). Apparently if one placed a £10 bet on all the octopus’ predictions during the tournament, they would have netted up to £3,000.
- The BBC - over 21 million British viewers watched the World Cup final last Sunday, and Gary Lineker and Co drew a peak audience of 17.9million viewers during extra time.
- Theo Walcott - he didn't realise it at the time, but Theo's omission from England's ill-fated World Cup squad was a blessing in disguise...
- The vuvuzela manufacturers - however don't expect to hear those plastic horns in the UK. Thus far Bristol Rovers, Ipswich, Cardiff, Leicester and Southampton have banned the controversial instrument from their football grounds.
- Diego Forlan - went from Man United flop to World Cup Golden Ball winner. Not bad at all.
- Germany & Ghana - two teams that you wanted to see more of in this tournament, especially Ghana, who was a penalty kick away from becoming the first African nation to make the World Cup semi-finals.
- South Africa - a magnificent job by the South Africans in hosting the first World Cup on African soil. Bafana Bafana, indeed!!
- Jong Tae-Se - the North Korean's tears during his country's national anthem prior to their opening game against Brazil, was a reminder of the passion some players felt representing their homeland.
Oh - and let's remember the shame-faced...
- FIFA - their refusal to consider goal-line technology deservedly slapped them in their faces, after Germany vs England & Mexico vs Argentina...
- Luis Suarez - the Uruguayan striker prevented Ghana from scoring the winner late in extra time of their quarter-final by becoming a second goalie and stopping the ball with his hand. Suarez was sent off but Uruguay went on to win the match on penalties, and Suarez was dubbed "Hand Of The Devil" across Africa.
- Asamoah Gyan - the poor Ghanaian will probably be haunted by that missed penalty against Uruguay. If only...
- ITV - they could only manage a meagre peak of 3.8 million viewers during the final.
- Robbie Earle - the football pundit was sacked by ITV, when some of his World Cup ticket allocation was apparently used by a Dutch brewery for "ambush marketing".
- James Corden - his World Cup Live show on ITV was absolute cow-pat.
- ITV again - their HD viewers missed Steven Gerrard's opening goal for England against the United States because of an advertising break
- France - the French team descended beyond farce, as the players staged a second French Revolution.
- The Jabulani ball - next time, let's all forget about "rounder footballs" OK?
- Italy - another under-performing football super-power, who finished last in their group, behind the mighty - New Zealand?
- Wayne Rooney - Emile Heskey looked a better player during the tournament. Enough said.
- John Terry's one-man coup...
- England - do we have to remember just how poor they were? Just watch England v Algeria again (if you dare)...
- World Cup adverts - take a bow Nike (Write The Future), Pringles (Pringoooals), The Sun (Maybe, just maybe), Carlsberg (It's time to join the immortals) etc.
- The UK media - our press should definitely feel ashamed for the hyped drivel that surrounds the England team every time they're in a serious football event - case in point: the myopic tabloid bull, prior to England's encounter with their German nemesis (who weren't scared after all):
Oh well - it's only another 1,400-odd days until World Cup 2014...
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