Ladies and gentlemen, after five weeks of unbelievably entertaining action in Brazil, the 2014 Fifa World Cup came to a captivating close this past weekend as one of the pre-tournament favourites Germany recorded a 1-0 victory after extra time over Argentina in Sunday's final in Rio de Janeiro.
It was a game truly befitting of a final, with both teams going hammer and tongue throughout the 90 minutes in search of a winner, but, for the eighth time at this year's tournament, it took extra time before a winner could be crowned.
Mario Gotze's sublime strike in the 113th minute was enough for the Germans to claim a fourth world title – the country's first since the east and west unified in 1990.
Congratulations must go out to Germany, if anybody deserved to win this year's tournament it was Die Mannschaft. They kicked off the tournament with a stunning 4-0 victory over Portugal, before securing their passage to the knockout stage with a 1-0 win over the United States.
They limped through a last-16 match-up with Algeria before putting in a professional performance against the French in the quarter-finals to set up a mouth-watering semi-final with Brazil. It was there that the Germans really staked their claim for the title, mercilessly beating Brazil by an unbelievable seven goals to one to set up Sunday's final.
Following the game, Argentina's Lionel Messi further solidified his spot as the world's greatest player by claiming the Golden Ball – codename for the World Cup's most valuable player. The Barcelona maestro finally came of age on the international level this year, scoring four goals and assisting on two more to finally put to bed the idea that he can only perform when surrounded by his teammates at Barcelona.
Colombian midfielder James Rodriguez took home the Golden Boot after his six goals saw him claim the tournament's top scorer award.
The World Cup served as a coming out party for the Monaco midfielder, with European heavyweights such as Real Madrid, Manchester City and Juventus credited with an interest in signing the coveted star.
Often accompanying brilliance though is madness, and we've seen our fair share of madness at this year's competition. From Luis Suarez's now infamous bite, to Netherland's goalkeeper Tim Krul screaming at terrified Costa Ricans as they prepared for penalty shots. One thing is for sure, there has been more than enough action for international media to divulge on over the past number of weeks.
There's just something special about the World Cup. It has the unbelievable quality to bring people together, whether they're a fan of football or not.
Coming to you this week from the far away land of England, I'm Mike Pickford. I hope you enjoyed this year's World Cup as much as I did.
