Hosts Germany showed that their new attacking approach to the game is here to stay. Coach Jurgen Klinnsmann clearly likes to go for the throat, and his young side are very entertaining. With youthful promise in Lukas Podolski and Bastian Schweinsteiger, and the hard work and class of Michael Ballack, the three-times world champions should catch the eye at the World Cup next year. The real negative to come out of the competition was their habit of leaking goals, and their use of three different goalkeepers. 'Klinni' must settle on one number one. He would also benefit from a less ring-rusty Robert Huth as well, but that depends on Chelsea.

Argentina showed their grit and bloody-mindedness to get to yet another final. Since being dumped out of the 2002 World Cup, the Albiceleste have clearly had a point to prove. They got to the final of the Copa America last summer, won the Olympic tournament in Athens and became the first team from South America to qualify for the World Cup and then got to the final of the Confederations Cup last week.

They have that important factor that all great Argy teams have. Not the magical heavy metal hair styles, but the ability to 'look after themselves'. They know when to play football, and know when to play dirty. At various moments in the semi-final against Mexico, the defenders in sky blue and white resembled Sunday league hatchet men, albeit without the beer guts and tattoos.

Their biggest problem is the lack of real world-class strikers. Apart from Hernan Crespo, they have a real dearth of quality predators. All the more ironic considering that they can't seem to stop producing amazing playmakers and attacking midfielders. The list of small, crafty, creative gems is enormous (Tevez, Aimar, D'Alessandro, Saviola and Messi) when compared to their out-and-out strikers. The potential star ot the next World Cup is the very young Barcelona star Lionel Messi. He is fresh from firing his team to victory in the Under-20 World Cup in Holland. He will be in the squad next year, and could even be the star of the tournament. However, as everyone knows by now, Brazil made Argentina look ridiculous in the final.

The world champions will return to Germany next summer with every possibility of defending their crown. In the Confeds they made do without Roberto Carlos, Cafu and Ronaldo, yet still looked five levels above the rest. Ronaldinho is not a human, but a gift from space, an alien sent to Earth to make people choke on their Guinness and Pringles in amazement. Kaka is still developing, but has the vision to unlock any defence, and Robinho, although raw, will be sure to make a massive impact in 12 months' time. Then there is Lucio in the centre of defence. Once centre-backs in gold and yellow were laughable (in fact Roque Junior still is, but that's another story) but Lucio oozes class and has obviously learnt so much from his time playing in Germany. Now he puts latino flair in unison with Germanic discipline and concentration.

The only doubt is over who will start up front. Adriano was imperious in the final - his usual cocktail of power and skill, brushing aside anyone trying to challenge him. But he will be aware that watching from the VIP beaches and luxury restaurants whilst on holiday was the resting panther they call Ronaldo. Biding his time with beautiful women and lots of food, waiting to pounce on his prey…

the Brazil number nine shirt, and the World Cup trophy.

In reality, the only people that can make Brazil look stupid are Nike. Why they insist on acid-bright yellow for the shirts and dark blue for the shorts is anyone's guess. Look at the photos, get some history…the Samba boys should always wear shorts which are non-descript light blue and shirts in a warm yellow. In the classic photos Pele's kit always looked really cheap, knackered and faded. Knackered and faded like the Argentina team which got mullered 4-1 in the final of the 2005 Confederations Cup. (Source: F365)