Okay then, Iker Casillas has lifted the world cup trophy to knock my last piece of prediction. Congratulations to Spain. I feel sorry for the Dutch. They could have won it as well but they didn’t. I thought it was a very good match. Yes, there were a lot of stoppages and yellow cards but when a match of this intensity is being played, it’s understandable. I liked the match. It was very tight, there were very few mistakes in midfield and defence. Despite this match being tight, there was certainly a lot of desire and ambition from both sides, which made it a very intriguing game.

I also feel sorry for Howard Webb. He is a good referee but on this occasion he got quite a few crucial things wrong. Netherlands should have had de Jong sent off and Spain should have had Iniesta and Puyol sent off. With just 3 minutes to go for the shootout, he got a big decision wrong at that crucial time. The free kick from Sneijder in the 116th minute should have resulted in a corner for Netherlands but he awarded a goal kick for Spain and that attacked ended the Dutch hopes. Looks like a very minor detail but at the 116th minute of a world cup, for a 10-man team, every bit of possession would have helped. Anyway, this is not meant to suggest Spain didn’t deserve or anything. It’s just that Netherlands deserved to be champions as much as Spain did.

Andres Iniesta was always on my ‘great footballer but a despicable character’ list. It’s just that he improved his ranking yesterday. I thought Robin van Persie was the most useless player on the pitch yesterday. He looked like he didn’t want to be there. His useless presence meant Netherlands were always a man down against Spain, which is not an easy proposition. I won’t blame him though. In his kind of form, he’s never going to get anything against Pique and Puyol. RvP shouldn’t have played or he should have been subbed very early.

Thomas Muller wins the golden boot of this world cup, thanks to his three assists which were the tie breaker. I’m happy for Muller to win it than the incredibly lucky David Villa. He is made out to be like the striker of the tournament or something. He’s been poor but lucky while Torres was poor and unlucky. If Villa had won the golden boot, it would have rivalled Anelka’s golden boot in the premier league. Diego Forlan wins the golden ball for being the player of the tournament. That’s a great choice, I must say. He’s not only brilliant and consistent, he’s been pulling his team along and made them punch above their weights. Truly deserved the prize. I wouldn’t have complained if Schweinsteiger got it.

The most important thing is: the world cup is over. And that means: the glorious world of club football is back!

The transfer mania would set in now. So many top players have been linked with Chelsea but you and I know that we’d buy none of them. There were some strong rumours about a Chelsea bid for Fernando Torres, who wants to play in the champions league, which is not possible with Liverpool this season and hopefully a few more seasons. I like Torres. I’d love to see him in a Chelsea shirt. Yes, he’s had a poor world cup but which Chelsea had a great world cup? The fact that he has had a poor world cup can work to our advantage as his price should be most certainly lower now. See, Torres is a top class striker and if he plays for Chelsea, he’d get great supply from everywhere and he should love playing with a selfless striker like Drogba. All this is fine, if he comes at a decent price. I happened to see a piece of news (or junk) about Liverpool slapping a £100m price tag on Liverpool. That’s beyond a bad joke.

Meanwhile, our eternal target Sergio Aguero is still on the look out for ‘a top club that would help him achieve his ambitions’. Quite expectedly, he made a reference to Chelsea and said this:

To be the strike partner of Didier Drogba is a thing many players would love to be. But it’s not just Drogba – it’s Lampard, Terry, Anelka, Essien, and maybe even Fernando Torres. They have quality players everywhere.

That’s nice – the intent and the slip. Happy that he is still intent on playing for Chelsea. He has been in this ‘come and get me’ mode for a few seasons now. And then the slip – see how he drops the name of Fernando Torres, his ex-colleague and friend at Atletico Madrid. Looks like Aguero knows something and I hope he didn’t get that from the tabloid rumours.

Torres wants to go. That’s bloody clear. But where can he go? He wants to play in the champions league, having played for Liverpool he might want to continue playing for a top club and he does get paid a handsome package. Having raised in / played for Atletico, I don’t see him going to Barcelona or Real Madrid. He may not want to join his Rafa at Inter. Out of the other clubs that can afford him, Man Utd don’t seem quite keen. Juventus? AC Milan? They’ve got Pato. I’d be happy if we end up getting either Torres or Pato. We need to wait and watch.

Ancelotti has kind of clarified that we’re not buying Kaka, though he would love that proposition. Having replaced Joe Cole with Benayoun, we’re still looking to find someone to fill the boots of Ze German. Strangely, not many midfielders get caught into these rumour stories. About three-fourth of the rumours are always about the strikers, forwards and wingers. While we are looking for a very good midfielder, Ancelotti gets some joy as Essien and Mikel return to full training. If Essien gets to start every single match next season (ala Frank Lampard), we could have a fantastic season and would help a lot in defending our title and progressing in Europe.

Happy to be back with proper football where the champion is decided over 38 matches across 10 months. Happy to be talking Chelsea.