We've been asking you who should win player of the tournament. Chief football writer Phil McNulty picked his top players during a Q&A session on the BBC Sport Facebook page. , external

Benyamin De Xiang asked: "Who is the best player in this World Cup?"

Phil McNulty said: "I have really enjoyed the contribution of players such as Lionel Messi of Argentina, Colombia's James Rodriguez and Arjen Robben for the Netherlands. I'm a big fan of three German players, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, Mats Hummels and Thomas Muller."

Image source, Getty Images

If the 1970 World Cup had been dominated by Brazilian brilliance, the 1974 tournament was all about the Dutch masters - even though they didn't win the trophy.

Johan Cruyff led a Netherlands side whose attractive style was branded Total Football - and even perfected his own special trick. The Cruyff turn was first shown to a worldwide audience during an entertaining group-stage match against Sweden; the clip of the midfielder outsmarting defender Jan Olsson has since been shown over and over again.

With Cruyff's inspiration, the Netherlands cruised to the final, chalking up impressive victories over Argentina and Brazil, but were beaten by hosts West Germany in the final. The midfielder, who spent his peak years as a player and a coach with Ajax and Barcelona, decided against travelling to the 1978 tournament in Argentina - and so this was to be his only World Cup.

Fifa has awarded the Golden Ball to the best player at each World Cup since 1930. As we ask you to nominate your player of the tournament, BBC Sport looks back at the past winners of the award.

Netherlands goalkeeper Tim Krul had a decent view of his team-mates in training yesterday. He posted this Vine, external and a message on Twitter:, external "Last training session completed of the season. 1 more big push tomorrow to beat Brazil."

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Brazil prepare for the match with the Netherlands looking to - at least in part - wash away the memories of their semi-final thrashing by Germany.

For those of us who quite enjoyed it, let's remind ourselves with a goal-by-goal account of the 7-1 mauling.

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A star at the 1958 World Cup, Pele missed most of the 1962 tournament through injury and was effectively kicked out of the 1966 finals as Brazil went out in the group stages. But Mexico 1970 was his tournament.

Where to start? There was the audacious attempt to score from the halfway line against Czechoslovakia, the powerful downward header against England that produced the so-called 'Save Of The Century' from Gordon Banks, the outrageous dummying of Uruguay's goalkeeper Ladislao Mazurkiewicz before slotting the ball wide - and those were just the near misses.

In the final against Italy, Pele opened the scoring with a towering header from Rivelino's cross. It was an emphatic start to masterful performance from perhaps the greatest team ever to grace a World Cup. As Brazil won 4-1 to win the trophy for a third time, Pele signed out of major tournament football in style.

Fifa has awarded the Golden Ball to the best player at each World Cup since 1930. As we ask you to nominate your player of the tournament, BBC Sport looks back at the past winners of the award.

Keit Aujla, Staffs: The Golden Ball should go to Neymar, Brazil's defeat to Germany showed just how important he is for them. Golden Glove award surely has Keylor Navas' name on it.

Felix, London: Would have liked to have seen some goalkeepers on the shortlist, Neuer, Navas and Howard have been inspirational.

For those of you out there who think third-place play-offs are entirely forgettable affairs, we can offer a retort:

Take a moment to enjoy Brazil's Nelinho curling a wonderful shot past Italy's Dino Zoff in 1978.

The 2014 Fifa World Cup has sparked a host of social network crazes.

The 2014 tournament has smashed social media records with some of the highest numbers recorded on Facebook and Twitter, and that means there have been more memes than ever, too.

Which meme was your favourite? To help you decide, the #BBCtrending team brings you some of the best.

John Joseph Eke:, external Let's forget biting. I believe Luis Suarez's performance are OK and he deserve it.

Ian Warncken:, external Decision on Golden Ball should wait until after final. In 2002 Kahn won it, after the final it should have gone to Ronaldo.

Foncie Meehan:, external Some outstanding performers in this World Cup but for me player of the tournament is James Rodriguez.

Who deserves to win the Golden Ball? Text 81111 or use #bbcworldcup on Twitter.

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As England lifted the trophy at Wembley in 1966 - aided by a Geoff Hurst hat-trick and a disputed call by Russian linesman Tofik Bakhramov - it was Bobby Charlton who was chosen as the best player of the tournament.

Charlton, a Manchester United colossus, scored one of the most memorable goals of the tournament in a group-stage win over Mexico, collecting the ball inside his own half and setting off on a solo run before hitting an unstoppable 30-yard shot past goalkeeper Ignacio Calderon.

He scored twice in the 2-1 semi-final victory over Portugal - and although the final against West Germany was one of his quieter days, as he and Franz Beckenbauer effectively cancelled each other out, his role in England's World Cup win was every bit as significant as that of Hurst and captain Bobby Moore. Charlton, with 49 goals, remains England's all-time leading scorer.

Fifa has awarded the Golden Ball to the best player at each World Cup since 1930. As we ask you to nominate your player of the tournament, BBC Sport looks back at the past winners of the award.

Tom Hedger:, external I think James Rodriguez deserves it after scoring great consistent goals and a contender for goal of the World Cup.

Eriq_kip:, external Arjen Robben has been magnificent in this World Cup - he deserves the award.

Jez Hillam:, external Muller has been top quality in more games than anyone else. Rodriguez was great, just a shame Brazil kicked him out of game.

Image source, Getty Images

An inquest into the state of the nation's football after an early World Cup exit. Sound familiar?

England fans might be relieved to hear they're not the only ones having a long-hard look at themselves. Italy, who along with Roy Hodgson's team, failed to progress from Group D, are apparently in search of a new direction.

Italian Football Federation vice-president Demetrio Albertini said: "In the 1990s we were the best in the world and everyone looked at us. Now we have remained behind while others have built their future."

Who should win the Golden Ball award for player of the tournament? Get involved via text on 81111 (UK users only) or via twitter on #bbcworldcup

Carl:, external For my money its definetely should be Arjen Robben, he has been an inspiration to the Dutch team.

Josh Brown:, external James Rodriguez or Keylor Navas.

Matt:, external It has to be Phillip Lahm.

Louis Van Gaal hates them, Luiz Felipe Scolari wants to win one. Whatever you think about third-placed play-offs, they are not exclusive to international football.

Did you know the FA Cup featured a third-placed play-off between 1970 and 1974?

Manchester United, Stoke City, Birmingham City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burnley were all winners of the illustrious title. True.

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When Pele was ruled out of the remainder of the 1962 World Cup finals in Chile with a muscle injury sustained in Brazil's second game, it placed extra responsibility on his team-mates to see through their defence of the trophy. Garrincha was the man who proved their inspiration.

The Botafogo winger created both goals in a 2-1 win over Spain that earned a place in the quarter-finals - where a meeting with England brought an incident that went down in tournament folklore.

During the match in Vina del Mar, a stray dog ran on to the pitch. When England striker Jimmy Greaves caught the animal, it urinated all over his shirt. After the dog was captured by an official, Garrincha ended up taking it home as a pet.

The Brazilian scored two brilliant goals as his team won that match 3-1, adding another double in the 4-2 semi-final win over hosts Chile. As Czechoslovakia were seen off in the final, Garrincha had established himself as the undoubted star of the tournament.

Sadly, his later years were blighted by alcoholism, and he died aged just 49 in 1983.

Fifa has awarded the Golden Ball to the best player at each World Cup since 1930. As we ask you to nominate your player of the tournament, BBC Sport looks back at the past winners of the award.

There have been quite a few shouts for Javier Mascherano to win the Golden Ball.

Here's BBC Sport's South American football expert Tim Vickery on Argentina's "Little Boss".

Image source, Getty Images

At the tournament where Pele announced himself on the world stage and Juste Fontaine set a scoring record unlikely ever to be beaten, it was Didi (centre) who shone brightest of all in Sweden.

The Botafogo midfielder masterminded Brazil's first World Cup triumph - and erased the agonising memories of eight years earlier. He was pivotal in the 2-0 group-stage win over the Soviet Union that really got Brazil going in the tournament, and helped to provide the platform for Pele to shine as France - the 13-goal hero Fontaine and all - were thumped 5-2 in the semi-final, before Sweden were defeated by the same score in the final.

Didi went on to play briefly for Real Madrid, and was a part of the Brazil team who retained the World Cup in Chile four years ago, before enjoying a return to the tournament as coach of Peru in 1970. Who ended their run in the quarter-finals? Brazil, of course.

Fifa has awarded the Golden Ball to the best player at each World Cup since 1930. As we ask you to nominate your player of the tournament, BBC Sport looks back at the past winners of the award.

Darren Devitt:, external Why no 'keepers in FIFA's shortlist? Howard, Neuer and Ochoa all excelled. Best player so far has been Kroos.

H Stephens:, external K Navas, Neuer. The GKs have been fantastic & outshone some of their teammates! Failing that, Rodriguez.

jjl0veZMUFC:, external I'm confused to how Van Persie isn't on that shortlist. Not saying he should win it, I think Rodriguez will. Totally bizarre.

Image source, Getty Images

Former Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow has backed the decision of his old club to sell striker Luis Suarez to Barcelona for £75m.

He tells BBC Radio 4: "I'm sorry to see (Suarez) go, in footballing terms he'll be sorely missed. But it's extremely good business with a profit of around £50m.

"I think it was always likely Suarez would leave this summer. The biting incident only made Liverpool more determined not to drag that out. He's a reputation-liability and he was going to miss nine Premier League games and two thirds of their Champions League games so when you consider his wages it's not bad business.

"I think Barcelona had some concern with his reputation but what we saw, when it became clear that this deal could happen a couple of weeks ago, was Suarez adopt a different posture to the incident. He's an asset for a football club rather an employee."

The build-up to the third-place play-off and Sunday's final is somewhat bittersweet, with the knowledge that, come Monday, it will all be over.

The blues will kick in and it'll be back to reality with a sense of longing that will be entirely justified. After all, Brazil 2014 has been the best World Cup ever - and that's official.

On Friday, we asked you to vote for your favourite and the current tournament came out on top.

See the results for yourself - the facts and figures are all here.