LONDON - Thanks to everyone who contributed to this blog, which is one of a number being trialled across the BBC.
Comments on this blog are now closed. But look out for other BBC Sport blogs - including our on-going editors' blog where you can discuss our coverage, and other forthcoming event blogs we will be running - for instance for the Ryder Cup and the Ashes.
LONDON - Here I sit in my flat, surrounded by dirty washing, cut-price World Cup tat and a huge joint of cured ham that I bought in France on Monday.
When I woke up this morning Ricco was nowhere to be seen - most strange and somewhat refreshing after five weeks of my co-blogger being the first person I have clapped eyes on every morning.
LONDON - The World Cup, all 64 games of it, has been and gone and everyone has had their say.
Including you.
We wanted a new way of rating players' performances, so we asked you to do the punditry.
And you responded in your hundreds of thousands, giving marks out of 10 to every player in every game throughout the tournament.
As a result, we got to see who you rated as the best and worst players on the pitch at any given game.
We've now collated the information to find the player of the tournament - as voted by you.
You may be surprised by his name. And guess who was the worst? (Clue: he's English..)
Continue reading "Revealed - your player & team of the tournament"
THE ENGLISH CHANNEL – Our ferry will shortly dock at Dover and our blog adventure will come to an end.
It’s quite hard to look back over the last few weeks as it seemed to whip by so quickly, the memories are all a bit of blur at the moment, but I’m sure in a few weeks I’ll be able to pinpoint my favourite incidents more clearly.
BELGIUM - It seems strange to no longer be in Germany. It feels strange to write that sentence.
I guess my moment of realisation that the party was actually over came when the fireworks exploded over the Olympic Stadium on Sunday.
This sensation was rammed home this morning when I looked at Bild newspaper. For the last four weeks the 'i' in the spelling on the cover has been replaced by the World Cup trophy. No longer.
LONDON - I asked one of the journalists who has been working on the football desk during the World Cup and who normally runs our games section, how he felt about the end of the sport's showpiece...
Got any suggestions to help him get over the void in his life?
Germany's footballing soap opera gripped us for 31 days.
Now it’s all over I'm left feeling like I've had a five-week fling with Kate Moss .... and been dumped for Bernard Manning.
COLOGNE - This is it then, our final night in Germany spent having a great meal by the banks of the Rhine in a southern suburb of Cologne with one of our many new found friends, actor Joachim Krol.
And, like Fletch, the hospitality of the German people towards the hordes of invading strangers will stick with me for a long time.
IBC, MUNICH – So after 31 days, 64 games, 147 goals (2002 = 161), 28 red cards, 305 yellows and four penalty shoot-outs, another World Cup is over.
It’s been a long tournament for the Match of the Day team – most of us have been out here in Germany for at least five weeks. But what a fantastic experience! Being paid to work at World Cup is as good as it gets for a football fan.
Now it’s time to get in reflective mood, so I want to know what will you remember most about this World Cup?
To help jog your memories, here are the Match of the Day experts’ favourite moments of the tournament. Over at the Guardian they've also been listing their best/worst moments of the tournament.
COLOGNE - The World Cup is over for another four years and Ricco and I are heading home.
We have just arrived in Cologne, where we will spend our final night in Germany, after a six-hour drive from Berlin. With the dust settling on the tournament I think it is a good time to reflect - after all I have witnessed much, learnt a lot and had a great deal of fun in my time in Germany.
BERLIN - Marco Materazzi’s career has always had an element of car crash chaos – even during his brief spell at Everton.
And never has it been more evident than in his pivotal contribution to Italy’s World Cup final win against France.
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