World Cup Toasts!

In no particular order:

To the Netherlands, for being this close, again.

To Jules Rimet, for coming up with the whole idea in the first place.

To the Diegos: Uruguay's Forlán, for being justly chosen the best player at the World Cup, and Argentina's Maradona, for somehow making himself into a genuine feel-good story.

To Andres Iniesta, for honouring Dani Jarque (see picture in post below).

To New Zealand, who went unbeaten(!!!!!!!!).

To Slovakia and Serbia, who were there, technically, for the first time.

To Müller, Villa, Sneijder, and Forlán, who scored 5 apiece for their countries.

To Algeria and Honduras, who failed to score at all.

To Ireland, who should have been there.

To Laurent Blanc, half of one of the greatest pre-game rituals ever, who now has the job of putting the French team back together.

To Cesare Prandelli, who'll have the same task with Italy.

To the young, skillful, and entertaining German team, from whom more will be heard in the future.

To England and Portugal, who didn't get to play their traditional quarter-final thriller this time around.

To Robert Green, may the leather-lunged ruffians on the terraces be kind to him.

To Gattuso, and Cannavaro, and maybe Buffon, and the other Azzurri that we won't see in that shirt again.

To Canada. One day, one day...

To Iker Casillas, for embarassing his girlfriend while she was at work. And for being the best 'keeper on the planet.

To Ghana, who deserved better.

To the United States, who served notice.

To Tim Howard, who joined Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller, and possibly others, on the list of strong, classy, American goalkeepers, and did so while suffering from Tourette's Syndrome.

To the dreaded penalty shoot-out, which claimed only two victims this time around (Japan and Ghana, in case you're wondering).

To Uruguay. Who'd have thought they'd be the last South American team standing?

To the refs. Out of 64 games, we had about 4 which involved any kind of serious officiating controversy. Not bad at all.

To the host country, which did a spectacular job, vuvuzelas and all.

To Brazil, now on the clock.

And finally, to Spain, who deserved it in the end.

More, perhaps, as/if I think of them - feel free to add your own in the comments! In the meantime, it was a good World Cup.