Who would have thought it, after a splendid three weeks of festival football, it's the Germans that are World Champions. It seems so obvious at this point, after all you should "never discount the Germans" yet when the journey started there were many a person who ignored the obvious claims of this well drilled, well oiled side.
One of the key accusations levelled at this German side was it lacked a "World Class Player". People questioned whether they had a player in the mould of a Messi, a Ronaldo or a Neymar, a poster boy to pin a countries hopes on. Yes they were a great team, but who would provide those inspirational moments of genius when it mattered most?
Well in hindsight, maybe we were a little blind to the World Class players Germany have running through their ranks.
In Manuel Neuer they have the undoubted World's best number 1. Too many people will rate goalkeepers by the shots they save, but Neuer's performance against Algeria should have showed to many that top level goalkeeping requires a lot more skill than the basic necessity of shot stopping.
His decision making, as he looked to sweep up behind a fragile looking German defence was spot on every time and this was a key performance on their way to the final. Even in the final, where he didn't have a shot to save, there was one key moment where Neuer had to literally stand tall.
When Rodrigo Palacio was set free inside the area, there was a choice to make. Neuer choose to quickly advance, imposing his big luminous green frame into the strikers eyes. Just this sheer presence was enough to panic and rush Palacio, resulting in a poor execution of his attempted chip. It was simply brilliant from Neuer, it was essentially a save without making save.
Other names that instantly stick out from the German squad in hindsight are players such as Philip Lahm, Bastian "the brain" Schweinsteiger and Thomas Müller
Lahm, one of the best full backs to have ever graced the game, was deemed so good that it would be a waste to play him their by the master that is Pep Guardiola, who employed him in a deep lying central midfield role this season. The fact that he was able to adapt and look like he'd played their all his life is a mark of this guys class. Could you imagine someone like Leighton Baines switching so effortlessly to this role?
And what can I say about Schweinsteiger that does this guy justice? He is just simply superb, there is no one better in the game at what he does. Can you name me a midfielder in this World Cup that you'd rather have? What's that you say Liverpool fan, "Steven Gerrard?" Ha, ha, very funny!
And then we have Müller, the golden boot winner at the last World Cup. If that doesn't make you World Class already, the fact he scored 5 more in this World Cup to bring his overall tally to 10, hot on the heels of Miroslav Klose's recently gained record of 16 all time World Cup goals what does?
And so now you start to realise that the reason Germany didn't have "one" World Class player is because they had lots of them, essentially 11 at any given moment, all managed by a World Class Manager in Joachim Löw. To coin a phrase, we were looking at Vorsprung Durch Können.
Maybe the willingness of some to play down Germany's claims were built from hope more than anything real, especially as in this country the Germans are a side we'd prefer to lose. Maybe we were led astray by the media who preferred to focus on big South American names and the claims of those teams than a "functional" Germany, but I'm sure what has become evidently clear to all of us now is that Germany is a world class team, set to rule the footballing stage for years to come.
So I guess all that's left to say is "Sehr Gut Detuscheland, Sehr Gut" and to Brazil who have hosted a magical World Cup, possibly the best since Italia 90, "obrigado"
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