With Brazil's victorious squad en route home last night, Rudi Völler and his defeated German squad received a generous welcome in Frankfurt's Roemer Square last night. Around 15,000 fans packed the square, many of them waiting for hours.

"I look at the reaction and wonder what would have happened if we'd won. It's a bit painful. We would rather have come back as champions," said the German coach.

Many fans were confident the side could now build on its success and win the World Cup in 2006, which Germany will stage. "What's important is that Germany is back at the top of world soccer. We'll be back in four years and then maybe as world champions," Oliver Kahn told the crowd.

Rivaldo yesterday accused the Brazilan president Fernando Henrique Cardoso of only supporting the World Cup winners when they are successful. "It's not only in the good moments when we need the President's support," he said. "We needed it in the tough moments during the qualifying round also, but we received pressure instead."

Diego Maradona has branded Brazil a "mediocre" team who won the World Cup only because they were lucky. "The final summed up the tournament. It was a poor match. Brazil are just a collection of individuals; they don't play as a team. They were playing one of the worst Germany teams I have seen."

Nasser al-Johar has been sacked as Saudi Arabia coach following the team's poor showing at the finals. Al-Johar's side failed to perform in Japan; they conceded 12 goals and failed to secure a point in three group matches. They lost 8-0 to Germany, 1-0 to Cameroon and 3-0 to the Republic of Ireland.