So has FIFA ever done anything to clean its own house? Well, sort of. In 2011 FIFA trumpeted its own efforts to purge itself of corruption, assembling an “Independent Governance Committee” of anti-corruption and anti-bribery experts and lawyers tasked with reviewing FIFA’s governance and structures and making recommendations aimed at increasing transparency and eliminating corruption at FIFA.

By 2013 that effort was falling apart, with FIFA entering its annual congress conspicuously ignoring vital sections of the recommendations they commissioned the IGC to make. (The IGC issued their final report, which included recommendations relating to corruption allegations over the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, last year.)

In April of 2012 Sportsnet spoke with two IGC officials about the crumbling reform process at FIFA, including Canadian Alexandra Wrage, an IGC member who had just publicly quit the IGC, frustrated at FIFA’s apparent lack of dedication to meaningful reform. Here are some key excerpts from those conversations, which speak to how such a public organization with such public criticism levelled at it could have gone on so long without reform.

(Wrage, it’s worth noting, made clear she was never paid by FIFA—”Not even my travel expenses,” she said.)

On the relationship between FIFA and IGC, the outfit FIFA hired to review their governance structure:

“What has been surprising to me is how adversarial it’s become. This was a process that FIFA started—this was their idea. They asked [IGC chairman] Mark Pieth to form the group and make these recommendations, and now we’re in this extraordinary situation of having to advocate for our own recommendations. I’ve never been in this situation before. I usually work with corporations where the board says ‘We’d like to have a review of our governance structures and our anti-bribery mechanism, and we’d like you to do a gap analysis of where the organization is today and where they need to be and what steps they need to take to get from there to here.’ It’s usually very collaborative, there’s often a healthy debate—’We can do this, we don’t have the resources for that, can we save this for a second stage?’ But I’ve never been in a situation where the very entity seeking the reform (at least nominally) says, ‘No, thank you,’ when the recommendations are made.”

On why FIFA dropped the anti-corruption recommendations, and how FIFA rejected recommendations on making transparent Executive Committee members’ compensation (several of the high-profile officials arrested today for bribery, racketeering, etc., are or have been Executive Committee members):

“That’s really the interesting part—there was no explanation. They just got dropped. I don’t know what other verb to use. They just disappeared from the agenda. So something really as fundamental as independent oversight on the Executive Committee, or transparency with respect to total compensation—I keep emphasizing ‘total’ because it needs to be salaries, bonuses, perks, everything, not just salaries—but we didn’t even get salaries, nothing.

“And it wasn’t as if they came back and said it wouldn’t be workable for this reason or, you know, ‘We’d like to table that until 2014’—[the recommendations] just didn’t make it onto the agenda. So there was no debate, there was no healthy back and forth. And that’s the part that’s been most surprising is that they requested this process, they initiated this process and now they are resisting or ignoring the improvements that they set in motion.

“It makes me question the seriousness of purpose at the outset if what I perceive as—what I know to be—very mainstream straightforward measures don’t make it as far as this. So there’s now way of to know whether they weren’t sincere at the outset or if they lost enthusiasm as time went on.”

At the same time Sportsnet spoke with Wrage, we reached out to Guillermo Jorge, an Argentine lawyer and member of the IGC. While Jorge remained with the IGC, he too was critical of FIFA’s anti-corruption efforts, citing FIFA’s fundamental structures and president Sepp Blatter—who at press time remained favourite to win FIFA’s presidential election this week—as particular obstacles to meaningful reform.

On the basic problem with FIFA, that the structure makes corruption easy:

“FIFA has a very basic accountability problem because it’s an association of 209 national associations. It’s like an African country with a resource course. They don’t get their money from taxes, so to speak, from contributions from the national associations, but absolutely the opposite. They get 90-something percent of their money from the World Cup and they distribute it top-down. This is a huge challenge for reforming, for bringing some transparency and democracy to an organization because it’s very difficult to create a demand from the bottom up.”

On whether Blatter is an obstacle to reform:

“Yes. The answer definitely is yes, from the standpoint that when you have fresh blood in an organization, usually you have new leadership [and] there is an impetus and a momentum to… convince the public that you have changed. This is very typical in multinational corporations when they are facing corruption challenges. This, of course, is very different. We are not naïve in the sense that we know where we are. It is also an opportunity to reform a bigger organization that needs to be reformed… The journey hasn’t been easy. There have been tensions between [Blatter] and the IGC since the beginning that were made public… I don’t work for Mr. Blatter… and sometimes the tension is basically that tension, that he believes that we are a committee of FIFA. Well that’s not the concept. We are an independent advisors.”

Djokovic defeated Roger Federer in the final to win his seventh Grand Slam title at Wimbledon last July and supplant Rafael Nadal as No. 1 in the world.

Germany routed host Brazil 7-1 in the semifinals of the World Cup before Mario Goetze scored the game-winning goal in extra time to beat Argentina 1-0 to win the team’s fourth title and first in 24 years.

Ethiopian runner Genzebe Dibaba won sportswoman of the year for breaking three world records in different events in a span of two weeks. She set new indoor records in the 1,500 metres, 3,000 metres and two-mile events last February.

Nobody saw it coming. Nobody. Germany’s 7–1 semifinal win over Brazil wasn’t just the single most amazing result in the history of the World Cup—it was one of the greatest team performances of the modern era. A total dismantling of the pre-tournament favourite and the biggest semifinal win ever. And they did it against Brazil at home—where the national team’s most recent competitive loss was in 1975; where the last time they’d lost by six was nearly 100 years ago. Here’s how it went down.

2nd minute Brazil applies early pressure on Germany, winning a corner kick. Oscar’s delivery into the box is cleared away by Germany’s Jérôme Boateng.

11th minute GOAL! 1–0. Germany breaks on the counter and wins a corner. Completely unmarked, Thomas Muller side-foots it past keeper Julio Cesar. Too easy. A sign of things to come.

17th minute Marcelo gallops into Germany’s penalty area and seems destined to score, but defender Philipp Lahm makes a perfectly timed challenge to poke the ball out for a corner.

23rd minute GOAL! 2–0. Fernandinho duffs an easy clearance, and Brazil pays for it. Muller and Toni Kroos combine to send Miroslav Klose in on goal. He pots his own rebound for his 16th career World Cup goal, surpassing Brazil’s Ronaldo for the all-time record.

24th minute GOAL! 3–0. Germany rips Brazil’s defence apart again. Lahm crosses to the edge of the penalty area and Kroos slams it past Cesar. “A dizzying 25 minutes from Germany leave Brazil nonplussed,” raves BBC play-by-play man Steve Wilson. Yes, quite.

26th minute GOAL! 4–0. “It’s getting embarrassing,” says Wilson as Germany steal the ball directly from the restart, sweep in and Kroos scores again. The cameras show a boy in the stands weeping. It only gets worse.

29th minute GOAL! 5–0. Six minutes, four goals. The Germans run right through Brazil as Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil exchange passes before Khedira slots it home. “Absolute humiliation,” says Wilson.

45th minute At the halftime whistle, the Brazilian players slump off the field under a chorus of boos. “A humiliation like this, it is about four levels below rock bottom,” notes BBC pundit Alan Hansen. Only four?

49th minute Brazil shows faint flickers. Paulinho looks good since being subbed on at the start of the second half; Fred’s penalty claim is turned down.

52nd minute More signs of life. Sustained possession ends with Oscar forcing German keeper Manuel Neuer to save a driving shot from in close.

53rd minute Ramires’s headed pass sends Paulinho in on goal, but Neuer makes a fabulous double save to deny the Brazilian.

60th minute Shortly after diving at Muller’s feet on a break to deny him, Cesar comes up with a fabulous save to tip the German’s shot just over the crossbar.

69th minute GOAL! 6–0. Lahm again picks out André Schurrle, unattended at the edge of the six-yard box. Brazil’s momentum is turned back.

79th minute GOAL! 7–0. Muller’s cross from the left finds Schurrle, who roofs an unstoppable shot from inside the penalty area. The Brazilian fans give the German team a standing ovation.

82nd minute Brazil has given up, but the Germans keep pressing. Every German pass is greeted by chants of “Ole!” by the Brazilian fans.

90th minute GOAL! 7–1. Neuer’s shutout bid fails as Oscar scores following a rare lapse in concentration by the underworked German defence. Neuer is furious.

90th minute The final whistle. “We’ve just witnessed one of the truly astonishing victories in football history . . . Germany’s elation is matched by Brazil’s desolation,” says BBC host Gary Lineker. ​

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The Argentine Football Association said Sabella will hold a news conference Wednesday. The federation did not confirm his resignation, but local media report he is leaving.

Gerard Martino and Jose Pekerman have been mentioned as possible replacements. Martino coached Paraguay’s national team and most recently Barcelona. Pekerman coached Argentina at the 2006 World Cup and took Colombia to this year’s quarterfinals.

Sabella began coaching Argentina in 2011, succeeding Diego Maradona. Argentina lost to Germany 1-0 in this month’s final. Sabella has talked of being worn out since the World Cup, saying he needs a rest.

Die Mannschaft won’t be the same without Lahm. He’s been a fixture with the side for a decade, earning 113 senior caps as Germany’s most reliable fullback—except for the recent, flirtation with deploying Lahm as defensive midfielder. That experiment, Lahm’s shift into the midfield both for Bayern Munich and at the World Cup in Brazil, speaks volumes about the man. He was already arguably the best fullback on Earth, and captain for both club and country—he had the right to refuse, the right to reject the disruption (and perceived slight, as one could choose to see it) of being forced to play out of position. But that’s not Philipp Lahm.

“He has a natural authority, takes on responsibility, is communicative and is an absolute leader,” said German head coach Joachim Low. Lahm is the type of player to do what’s needed of him.

Almost inevitably, he excelled for Bayern in his new role, leading them to a runaway Bundesliga title. Credit it to Lahm’s natural gift for adaptation, for seeing the game better than anyone else, no matter his vantage point.

“Philipp Lahm is perhaps the most intelligent player I have ever trained in my career,” said Bayern manager Pep Guardiola. “He is at another level.”

No team would willingly go without a player of his level, not even the world champions. Organized, astute and blessed with impeccable positional sense, Lahm always seemed so German in all the best ways. Never a flashy player, he could attack with the best forward-thinking wingbacks; a small man—just five-foot-seven—he relied on his defensive efficiency  to snuff out attacks, rather than raw power and pace to force himself on the game.

That’s not to say Lahm isn’t forceful. Far from it. On the pitch, Lahm is as single-minded and determined a player as you’ll ever see. Off the pitch, he’s just as unyielding. After taking over the German captaincy from Michael Ballack, who sat out the 2010 World Cup injured, Lahm held onto it when Ballack returned, and Die Mannschaft was the better for it. Lahm made the tournament’s all-star team as he led Germany to third place in South Africa, with many arguing the team played freer and better without the domineering “Little Kaiser” Ballack wearing the armband.

Lahm has shown similar unwillingness to yield off the pitch, criticizing several coaches—including German national team managers Jurgen Klinsmann and Rudi Voller—for technical or motivational deficiencies. But even that teapot tempest only underlined Lahm’s dedication and high standards.

Perhaps it is those high standards that pushed Lahm to step aside. “This is the right time,” Lahm told the German press Friday. “I decided that the World Cup in Brazil would be my last tournament.” At just 30 years old, there are plenty of years left in Lahm’s legs, but retiring now lets the world remember Lahm at his finest, as the dominant force in on the right flank against Argentina in the World Cup final. Lahm remains captain of Bayern Munich, the hometown club he joined at 12, and he’s sure to add to the 18 trophies he’s won with his club.

But it’s the one he’s claimed for his country, as the first captain of a unified Germany to win a World Cup, that will matter most. There’s no topping it. There’s no better way to retire.

The German driver wanted to commemorate his country’s World Cup win with a specially designed helmet that also featured the German colours.

But FIFA complained that featuring the trophy on the helmet would breach its "intellectual property" rights.

"We appreciate Nico Rosberg’s desire to congratulate the German team and have therefore been in discussions with the Rosberg team, who have now found a solution whereby he will still be able to show his support for Germany without using FIFA’s intellectual property in a commercial context," FIFA said in a statement on Thursday.

"FIFA brands cannot be allowed to be shown on a commercially branded helmet."

Rosberg will race instead with a modified helmet featuring four golden stars, one for each of Germany’s World Cup wins.

"It’s amazing that even a trophy has a trademark," Rosberg said. "I was surprised, but of course I understand. It’s a pity because the helmet looked really cool with the trophy on top. It’s been replaced by a big star. No one can take that away. The star belongs to us!"

Earlier, the driver tweeted: "a shame,i would have loved to carry the trophy as a tribute to the guys.but of course I respect the legal situation."

Rosberg’s team, Mercedes, was also showing its appreciation for Germany’s football triumph at its home grand prix.

"The best" was written in large letters on the side of the team’s motorhome, and "We congratulate our national team on winning the title."

Rosberg leads the championship by four points from teammate Lewis Hamilton.

“Shortly after the blow, Kramer came to me asking ‘Ref, is this the final?”‘ Nicola Rizzoli told the Gazzetta dello Sport on Thursday. “I thought he was joking and made him repeat the question and then he said, ‘I need to know if this is really the final.’ When I said, ‘Yes,’ he concluded, ‘Thanks, it was important to know that.”‘

Rizzoli said he let Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger know about the exchange during Sunday’s game but Kramer continued playing for 14 minutes following the collision with Argentina defender Ezequiel Garay.

He was eventually replaced in the 31st after slumping to the ground with a suspected concussion. Germany went on to beat Argentina 1-0 in extra time to lift the trophy.

Kramer’s continuation in the game after suffering an apparent concussion revived concerns about the way football deals with the issue, as there were worrying head injuries for several other players earlier in the tournament.

Argentina players Javier Mascherano and Pablo Zabaleta also played on in their team’s semifinal against the Netherlands after hard knocks to the head. And Uruguay defender Alvaro Pereira refused to leave the field after being hit in the head during the group stage.

The incidents have led to debate over whether FIFA should allow a temporary substitution so a player can get a head injury properly checked. FIFA medical chief D’Hooghe doesn’t oppose the idea.

As for the rest of the match, Rizzoli defended his decision not to award a penalty to Argentina when Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer ventured to the edge of his area and jumped on top of forward Gonzalo Higuain to punch a dangerous ball away.

“I was wrong to give Germany a free kick. It was nothing,” Rizzoli said. “Why was it a penalty? Neuer went for the ball before the attacking player.”

Rizzoli also explained why he didn’t show a second yellow card to Sergio Aguero late in the match when the Argentina forward challenged Schweinsteiger while leaping for a ball — leaving the midfielder with a bloodied face.

“I judged it involuntary and that’s why it didn’t warrant a yellow card,” the Italian referee said. “I could have been wrong.”

Javier Mascherano also already had a yellow card when he made a physical challenge on Schweinsteiger, but he escaped being sent off, too.

“It’s important to look at players’ reactions,” Rizzoli said. “We were in extra time and lucidness was at the minimum. … In a fair final like the one in Rio, the referee can’t become the protagonist by rapidly sending players off.”

During Tuesday’s raucous Berlin victory party, six players bent double and sang "this is how the gauchos walk," then jumped up singing "this is how the Germans walk."

The daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said the act hurt Germany’s image as a tolerant nation and a leading Twitter trend in Germany Wednesday was "#gauchogate."

Federation president Wolfgang Niersbach said the players performed the routine spontaneously and didn’t intend to mock anyone.

Niersbach says he’ll write to Argentine counterpart Julio Grondona to assure him "the action was in no way meant disrespectfully."

Having run further, tackled harder and touched the ball more times than anyone else in the 2014 World Cup final, the 29-year-old midfielder took a much-deserved breather. He was empty. And he remarked, “My legs are gone.”

So there he sat, alone, on the Maracana grass, a winner’s medal around his neck, a gash under his right eye, dried blood on his cheek. And a smile on his face.

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“There were some matches, especially against France, when it was not so easy,” he later admitted. “But we believed in ourselves. Against Argentina it was the same. We believed in ourselves.”

He added: “Now we are number one in the world, and we want to enjoy this moment.”

It was a long time in coming, along a sometimes rocky road.

Difficult times

Six of the Germany players who lined up to face Argentina on Sunday had started the 2010 semifinal against Spain in South Africa. A seventh, Sami Khedira, had been withdrawn prior to kickoff with a calf injury.

For many of them, a World Cup title will have seemed the natural result of a team-building scheme that saw Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng, Mesut Ozil, Toni Kroos and Khedira win the 2009 European Under-21 championship together. But they could not have done it without a pair of players whose international careers began in rather more difficult times.

At Euro 2004, with a generational change quite clearly afoot, Germany failed to get out of the group stage. But despite the failure, then-manager Rudi Voller couldn’t help but foresee better times ahead, what with Philipp Lahm and, in particular, Schweinsteiger about to come into the national setup on a permanent basis.

“I was delighted with the performance of my younger players, and I’m sure they will continue to prove their worth,” stated Voller following a 1-1 draw with the Netherlands in Porto.

The 19-year-old Schweinsteiger, having come into the match as a second-half substitute, was also upbeat about the future, relaying to reporters the “fantastic feeling” of wearing his country’s colours.

“I don’t really think about the pressure,” he said. “All I try to do is go out there and do my best for the team. Sometimes it works better than other times.”

It’s easy to forget that in 2004 Schweinsteiger was being used as a winger, having previously been converted from a full-back role. He might also have opted for a promising career in ski racing but in 1998 chose football and the Bayern Munich underage team of Udo Bassemir.

By 2002 he had made his full debut for Bayern’s senior squad, and the first of his seven Bundesliga titles was clinched the following spring. But it wasn’t until the 2009 arrival of manager Louis van Gaal that he would find his niche in the centre of midfield.

Of all the accomplishments the Dutchman likes to boast about, that transition should rank high among them.

Priceless

“For me,” reflected Jupp Heynckes in 2012, “Bastian Schweinsteiger plays in a league with Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Sergio Busquets.”

A year later the former Bayern manager admitted the midfielder was “priceless” to Bayern’s pursuit of an historic treble, adding, “He thinks about attack and defense at the same time.”

The plaudits should be, and mostly have been, of a similar nature in the hours since Germany’s World Cup triumph, as few players, if any, so encapsulated Die Mannschaft over the previous weeks in Brazil.

Initially a fitness concern, Schweinsteiger was an unused substitute in Germany’s 4-0 thrashing of Portugal to kick off their campaign and only played the final 20 minutes of the 2-2 draw with Ghana five days later.

His first start came in the 1-0 win over the United States in Recife, but again he was unable to last the full 90 minutes and came off after a mostly unspectacular display.

It was against Algeria in the round of 16 that Schweinsteiger, who played 109 minutes of the extra time victory, started to hit his stride, and after coming off in favour of Christoph Kramer he would not miss another minute of the competition.

Against Brazil he was imperious—pushing Germany’s pattern of possession well beyond the halfway line—and in Sunday’s final there was no better player. He had saved the best for last.

Khedira’s injury had always meant that Schweinsteiger’s importance would be amplified in Rio de Janeiro, and when Kramer succumbed to a first-half knock he simply took over the midfield by himself.

Even Sergio Aguero’s knuckles couldn’t keep him away. After having his head-wound stapled up on the sideline, he returned for the final 11 minutes of extra time—a bloody mess of a midfield general, leading by example in the biggest match of his life.

When it was over, he could only sit and take it all in.

And there he was, alone on the Maracana grass, a winner’s medal around his neck, a gash under his right eye, dried blood on his cheek. And a smile on his face.

Jerrad Peters is a Winnipeg-based writer. Follow him on Twitter

The players, in matching black T-shirts bearing "1," lapped up the love by playing up to the estimated 400,000 people packing the "fan mile" in front of the Berlin landmark.

Fans began arriving overnight to secure good spots to welcome home coach Joachim Loew’s team and the trophy. Germany’s fourth World Cup, the first since 1990, crowned years of work by Loew to modernize the team, and followed near misses at recent tournaments.

"We’re all world champions!" Loew told the crowd.

"Of course, it was a long way to the title, and an incredibly tough one in the end. But we’re incredibly happy to be here with the fans now."

Mario Goetze, the scorer in the 1-0 win over Argentina in the final on Sunday, was greeted with deafening cheers by the sea of fans waving black, red and gold Germany flags.

Midfielder Toni Kroos led the crowd in a chant of "Miro Klose" — a tribute to veteran striker Miroslav Klose, whose two goals took his World Cup tally to 16 and made him the tournament’s all-time leading scorer.

When the players emerged on stage to take their accolades, the fans welcomed each of them with a chant of "football god" — giving Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Mueller, Goetze and Klose the loudest cheers.

"We’re just mega-proud of this achievement, after standing here in 2006 and 2008 as third and then as second — and now we’ve finally done it after this long journey, with this sensational team," defender Per Mertesacker said.

There were problems with the sound, meaning most of the players’ words were lost to the crowd. The supporters didn’t mind, though, and cheered even louder as defender Jerome Boateng, back in his hometown, shouted: "I can’t hear you!"

The team plane landed at Tegel Airport in midmorning after flying low over the "fan mile" — which by then had been packed for hours.

Captain Philipp Lahm led the team off the aircraft holding the trophy aloft, to a chorus of "Football’s Coming Home" from fans on the airport’s viewing terrace.

He was followed by Schweinsteiger, draped in a German flag and sporting a bandage over a cut under his right eye, the result of a tackle in the final.

From the airport, the team set off on a two-hour trip to downtown Berlin in a bus painted with the years of Germany’s World Cup victories: The previous occasions were in 1954, 1974 and 1990.

The team changed shirts and climbed aboard an open-top truck for the last part of the trip to the Brandenburg Gate, crawling through the crowds at snail’s pace.

"It’s indescribable," fan Till Uhlig from Hannover said of the crowds.

People travelled to the celebration from all over the country: "They’ve all taken their holidays to come here. It’s absolutely crazy," he said. "We were behind the stage where the bus pulled up. Just incredible.

Berlin resident Katrin Fels, who brought her daughter, said: "We knew it would happen. It was clear from the start of the year that we had the best team. It’s perfect, perfect for all generations."

Ray Whelan, a British executive with the MATCH group, which owned the rights to sell World Cup hospitality packages, is accused by police of providing World Cup tickets to an Algerian businessman, Lamine Fofana, whom authorities have called the top ticket scalper at this year’s Cup, which ended Sunday.

Whelan had been arrested by Rio de Janeiro police last week, but freed hours later on bail. A police investigator then obtained a new warrant for his arrest late last week, but Whelan left the Copacabana Hotel where he was staying just minutes before authorities arrived to take him into custody again.

In an emailed statement, Whelan’s lawyer, Fernando Fernandes, said Whelan turned himself over to the judge in charge of overseeing the case against him and was placed in a holding cell. Police were expected to take custody of Whelan and transfer him to jail.

The MATCH group has denied any wrongdoing by Whelan in a series of written statements and said he was willing to co-operate with any investigation.

Under Brazilian law, selling tickets for sporting events above face value is illegal. But it’s a crime that normally results in a fine of about $225 and no prison sentence.

Chief investigator Fabio Barucke said he has formally requested that a judge consider the actions of Whelan and at least 11 others already arrested in the alleged scalping scheme of having formed a criminal conspiracy, a charge that carry significant jail time.

Barucke has also told The Associated Press that police have 50,000 tapped phone calls related to World Cup ticket scalping, but that police have listened to only half of the calls they have archived. He said he expects his investigation to reveal that FIFA officials and authorities from Brazil’s national football confederation also funneled tickets to known scalpers in return for a share of the illegal profits.

GOALKEEPER

Manuel Neuer– The German shot stopper recorded four clean sheets and was awarded the Golden Glove trophy by FIFA as the tournament’s best goalkeeper.

DEFENDERS

Ricardo Rodriguez– Flew under the radar because he plays for Switzerland. But he was immense at the back, and proved a creative force going forward.

Mats Hummels— Matured into a reliable centre back who reads the game to great effect. He was simply outstanding for the Germans.

Ezequiel Garay— Helped quarterback an Argentine defence that conceded just one goal in the knockout stages of the competition.

Philipp Lahm— Cemented his status as one of the best defenders in the world with his consistent and stellar performances for Germany.

MIDFIELDERS

James Rodriguez— The Colombian won the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer with six goals, and was easily the most exciting player to watch in Brazil.

Arjen Robben— The “Flying Dutchman” bagged three goals, and caused opposing defenders all kinds of problems with his quickness and trickery on the ball.

Toni Kroos— Scored two goals and provided the Germans with a great deal of midfield creativity in the centre of the park.

Javier Mascherano— An unsung hero for Argentina who put in brilliant defensive performances in the semifinals and final.

FORWARDS

Lionel Messi— He scored four goals (all of them in the group stage) and played a big role in helping Argentina reach its first World Cup final since 1990.

Thomas Muller— Finished second in scoring with five goals (he also collected three assists) and was a major reason why Germany won the World Cup.

Sportsnet’s panel of voters: James Sharman, Sid Seixeiro, Brendan Dunlop, Gerry Dobson, John Molinaro, Thomas Dobby, Dan Riccio and Thomas Michalakos.

Blatter says "I am not at all happy with the way we fought against racism."

The FIFA president says he spoke with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin at Sunday’s final about making the issue a priority at the 2018 World Cup there.

Blatter and Brazil state President Dilma Rousseff had said this World Cup would take a stand against discrimination.

However, reported incidents of fans chanting gay slurs, displaying far-right banners and wearing black face-up make brought no disciplinary action.

FIFA’s own racism task force chairman, Jeffrey Webb, described a "disconnect" between his group and FIFA’s disciplinary panel.

To listen to the interview, CLICK HERE.

Of course, Brazil was never going to win this World Cup with that squad! Obviously Spain was due for a collapse after so much success! It’s all so simple after the events have unfolded; it’s just that it’s not half as simple beforehand or at the time.

But still, now that it’s over, I can’t believe I didn’t have Germany as winners from the start. I feel ridiculous. I’m thinking there’s no way it should have taken hindsight to step in for me to see how that team’s tournament would unfold.

You see, after even the first week, any routine survey of the teams who might have been contenders in Brazil should have revealed, pretty much every time, that only Germany combined the twin attributes required to win the thing. Only Germany had both the individual quality to allow it to compete for the trophy at all and the cohesiveness as a unit to allow it to compete properly.

Almost everyone else was short in at least one of these two aspects of what makes an acceptable football team.

Brazil didn’t have the players, so there should have been no question of it winning. With Fred or Jo up front, the attacking support required to make up for their lack of goals was going to have to be utterly outstanding—Neymar might have been, but Hulk and Oscar were never likely to be. Oh yeah, there was that defence, too.

Soccer Central podcast: SPORTSNET.CA’s Soccer Central podcast, hosted by John Molinaro and James Sharman, takes an in-depth look at the beautiful game and offers timely and thoughtful analysis on the sport’s biggest issues. To listen and subscribe to the podcast, CLICK HERE.

The Netherlands didn’t have the players, either. It had the second youngest squad at the tournament, with a large portion of those involved still operating in the Dutch Eredivisie. If they can stay together as a group and keep getting better individually, then they might be a decent bet next time around. But this time, with only Robin Van Persie and Arjen Robben to offer genuine class, even Louis Van Gaal’s masterful run of great decision making wasn’t enough to push that group over the line.

Then there was Argentina. How did it make the final without actually putting in one convincing performance? Well, with respect to these teams, it only had to beat Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran, Nigeria, Switzerland and Belgium to get there. A draw was good enough against Holland, with penalties enough to finish the pretty grim job it performed in killing off that game as a spectacle. It may have had one of best squads going at this tournament, with Lionel Messi, Angel di Maria and Javier Mascherano all showing up at the right times. But it only even momentarily came together as a team in the final itself. How many penetrating attacks did it produce per game before? How often did the side that conceded twice to Nigeria look dominant in defence? It didn’t have positive answers to either of these questions and even on its best day it couldn’t overpower Germany.

Of the semifinalists, only Germany “worked” on an individual and collective level (as I’ll explain in a second). And further down the tournament, the same applied.

France fell slightly short on both. Players such as Raphael Varane and Paul Pogba looked as though they will be “there” soon, but aren’t yet, and the regular switching around up front was a de facto concession by Didier Deschamps that he doesn’t know the best combination of his front players. Chile aced it as a collective, but maybe not as individuals—Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal being the exceptions, not the rule. Then Costa Rica was a more extreme example of the same issue. For Colombia, a really neat unit but lacking the injured Radamel Falcao, only James Rodriguez and Juan Cuadrado stood out as potential world beaters. Meanwhile, Belgium became the new England: a group of excellent Premier League players who look as though they have never played with each other before in their lives.

Conversely, apart from Germany, only Spain seemed to combine having players good enough to win with a decent plan as to how to play. Andres Iniesta, David Silva and Xabi Alonso were surrounded by near equals and tiki taka had proven kind of successful before. Even now that team still fulfills my basic criteria for what it takes to win pretty well; it’s just that everything else outside my criteria went wrong.

Once Spain was gone, Germany made the most sense as winners by a mile. Unlike, say, Argentina, where a number of brilliant attacking options just seemed not to slot together, Germany’s forwards and midfielders were a brilliant fit. Sami Khedira and Bastian Schweinsteiger offered a neat, balanced midfield shield after initial experiments with Phillip Lahm in there were rightly shelved. Toni Kroos eventually stepped up to dictate games in the later rounds. Mesut Ozil was often quiet but usually useful. Thomas Muller was brilliantly direct, and the best player at the tournament, I reckon. It all came together when Mario Goetze scored that goal.

Those good players didn’t have to be forced into an 11: they complimented each other from the start. On top of the given that they’re good enough, they’re smart footballers, well coached and have played together in similar systems regularly. And once Joachim Low stopped messing around with his defence, it showed.

Germany beat Portugal, the United States, France, Brazil and Argentina to win this World Cup, the first for a European country in South America. It managed it because it was the only team anywhere near the final stages of this competition that fulfilled even the two basic criteria for winning a World Cup.

What was everyone else up to? And, more pertinently, how did literally everyone not guess this from the start? The one distraction was maybe the negative tone that surrounded the team following the injury to Marco Reus just before the tournament, but that really shouldn’t have been enough to negate the overwhelming case in its favour. So shame on me.

Ethan Dean-Richards is a London-based writer. Follow him on Twitter.

Yet the country pulled off a magnificent tournament, albeit with a few bumps. It’s the team that has left many Brazilians wondering what went horribly wrong.

The cup was widely seen as theirs for the taking, especially on home turf. They leave the Cup in fourth place with their star badly injured and the brutal memory of a 7-1 rout by the Germans in front of a global audience.

The most successful nation in World Cup history has been eliminated in three straight tournaments, enough to raise questions about whether it’s doing the right things to keep up with countries that have dominated the sport in recent years.

It’s already clear Brazil won’t be the same after the home tournament.

A change in coach is almost certain, and new players will be joining Neymar and Oscar for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Critics say bigger changers are needed, including in the local football confederation.

The resounding 7-1 loss to Germany, which embarrassed the nation, could become a turning point for the national team. The semifinal defeat has everyone thinking about the need to rebuild.

"We failed. We didn’t play up to expectations, we know it wasn’t a good tournament," said striker Neymar, who missed the last two matches because of a back injury. "We didn’t play the kind of football that the Brazilian national team plays. It was just regular, and that’s why we still reached the semifinals, but it wasn’t Brazilian football, not the kind of football that enchants everybody."

Brazil never displayed its traditional "Jogo Bonito," or "Beautiful Game," and ended the tournament with three wins, two draws and two losses, including 3-0 to the Netherlands in the third-place match on Saturday.

"Brazilian football has to evolve in general," right back Dani Alves said. "We can’t discredit the work that has been done by this team, but we have to find a way to start restructuring our football from the youth levels up."

Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo blamed some of Brazil’s failings on young players moving early to European clubs. He said parents were given jobs with clubs, and brought their children along.

"I have already denounced this," Rebelo said Monday. "This is a type of football colonialism exercised by rich teams in Europe."

The president of the Brazilian confederation, Jose Maria Marin, had said that losing the World Cup at home would be like "going to hell."

"We need to think football differently," said Brazilian coach Paulo Autuori, who led Sao Paulo to the Club World Cup title in 2005. "We need the Brazilian confederation in the hands of people from football. We need people in charge who can think football."

Marin, a former politician, is leaving the confederation next year and will be replaced by Sao Paulo state federation president Marco Paulo Del Nero. Both were politically linked to Ricardo Teixeira, who ruled the confederation for more than 20 years before resigning in 2012 citing medical reasons and amid a cloud of allegations of corruption and irregularities in his administration.

Del Nero had said he would like Scolari to stay as the head of the national team despite his failure to win the title at home, but Marin was expected to announce on Monday that the confederation will not keep the coach after the World Cup. Scolari had said it would be up to the confederation to decide whether he would continue.

Scolari was picked to lead the 2014 team mostly because of his popularity and experience from the 2002 title, but many critics said he was outdated as a coach. Before rejoining the national team, the coach was relegated in the Brazilian league with Palmeiras.

"We should thank him, but we need to choose new people with new thoughts about how to play the Brazilian way," said former Brazil star Zico, who also blamed Brazil’s problems "on poor administration, a lack of structure and a vacuum of leadership."

Scolari said Brazil is going through a period in which there are "fewer young promising players" in the country, and said that the confederation needs to "keep working" to make sure more appear in the future.

There are a few names already rumoured to be the next coach, including Tite and Muricy Ramalho, who have been successful with local clubs in recent years. Ramalho is a four-time Brazilian champion, while Tite led Corinthians to the Club World Cup title in 2012. There is also talk in local media about international coaches, including Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, and Chile’s Argentine coach Jorge Sampaoli.

Regardless of the new coach, many of the players will be changing.

Of the 23 players picked by Scolari for the home tournament, only seven will be younger than 30 in Russia — Neymar, Oscar, Marcelo, Luiz Gustavo, Paulinho, Willian and Bernard.

"It was disappointing in the end, but we have to remember that this generation has started a rebuilding process for 2018 with a fourth-place finish at the World Cup," Scolari noted.

Neymar, who will be 26 in Russia, will still be carrying the hopes of the national team for a sixth world title.

"This will hurt for a long time, but we know that better days will come," the 22-year-old striker said. "We have to do whatever possible to make sure we can make the Brazilian people happy again."

To listen to the interview, CLICK HERE.