It’s all over. The joy, the pain, the tears, the beers, the highs, the lows, the fantastic month-long period of football mania that is the World Cup.

The trophy has been lifted and the world can get back to normal after a month of sheer footie (yes, that’s what it’s called in England) madness. A few days before the World Cup, we printed an article where we had asked various personalities for their predictions. Four questions were posed: Who would win, who would be player of the tournament, who did they support and what would be the surprise package. So – who fared well and who didn’t?

Well let me be the first to put my hand up. My predictions were rubbish. The only decent one I had was that Ghana would be a surprise package, and that they certainly were. But my other calls were pretty well off the mark. I said the player of the tournament would be Ronaldinho – and he was pretty awful by his standards. I also said that Brazil would win – and we all know what happened with that one. I also tipped Stewart Downing (of my hometown Middlesbrough) to do well – he did in the 10 minutes he played. As I said – pretty well off the mark.

GWU secretary-general Tony Zarb was also well off the mark. A Brazil supporter, Tony tipped them to win and for Ronaldinho to shine – sorry Tony, your predictions were as bad as mine. And as for Costa Rica being an upset team – they were down and out in the first round.

XFM presenters Jay and Ozi were also quite wide of the mark. Jay said Argentina to win (even though he supports England). Well, they had potential, but were dumped out in the last eight. He tipped centre back John Terry to do very well – and he did get into the tournament’s best 23 squad, so good call Jay, but the prediction that Ivory Coast would upset – not even into the knockout phase.

Ozi tipped home nation Germany to win – a good call, but not good enough. He supported Oz – unlucky mate – harsh refereeing decision, but I suppose that’s the way it goes.

UHM secretary-general Gejtu Vella said: “This time it has to be England! I was a young boy when in 1966 England managed to beat West Germany, winning the World Cup for the first and only time. Since then England supporters, including myself, have been waiting for 40 years with England flags in the cupboards with moth marbles.” Gejtu, I share your grief, but we were awful. Tipping Ghana was a good call, but Ronaldinho simply did not live up to expectations.

Opinion setter and economist Alfred Mifsud supports Italy and rightly called that they would win. He predicted that Luca Toni would be the player of the tournament. He had a good one, but was not the best – but it’s still the best call yet. Mr Mifsud said Ivory Coast would be a surprise package but, to be honest, the Elephants did not really live up to the hype.

Environment Minister George Pullicino gave himself good odds by saying that he thought the favourites were Brazil, Argentina, Germany, England and Italy. Well, he managed to get one out of five, correctly calling Italy. Mr Pullicino was one of those who celebrated, as Italy is the team he supports. He tipped Ronaldinho to shine, but again, he really did not live up to expectations. He also said the US and the Czech Republic could cause some upsets, and they did, but not to great effect.

MEP Joseph Muscat said that he thought the Samba stars of Brazil would pull it off and, like me, got it wrong. He supports Italy and said that Lionel Messi would have a great tournament, if he recovered from his injury. Recover he did, and shine he did too, but why was he not played in the quarter final against Germany? He tipped Ukraine for an upset and he got that quite right.

Hotelier Winston J. Zahra is another dejected England fan. He tipped Brazil and Ronaldinho to be the pick of the tournament but, again, that’s off the mark. But Mr Zahra made the best call of the lot – Italy to cause an upset. And they certainly did. Good call.

So – Italy were obviously the team of the tournament. But the biggest upset of all was the player of the tournament, despite the indiscretion during his last ever game - Zinedine Zidane. It’s such a shame that the red mist descended and ruined the last night of his career. No one expected Zizou to play the tournament he did, but he was phenomenal.

Although Zidane was officially voted best player, I think, and perhaps many will agree, that Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro was equally excellent. Being a defender, he perhaps did not have the opportunity to shine.

So, lastly – surprise packages. Well, number one has to be Italy – the scandal that loomed due to the calciopoli issue could have wrecked their tournament, but they went all the way. As for the others, the only ones that really stood out were Australia, Ukraine and Ghana. What a tournament. Roll on Euro 2008.