Hargreaves voted England's best player at World Cup

Owen Hargreaves, the Bayern Munich midfielder, has been voted England's best player at the World Cup.

While the likes of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard did not meet expectations, Hargreaves produced several consistent performances in midfield and at right-back.

And the versatile midfielder, subjected to ridicule for much of his international career, has been identified as the most impressive player in Germany in a Football Association poll last month.

The Canada-raised Hargreaves received more than 35,000 votes - just under a quarter of those polled - beating Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, David Beckham and John Terry.

Hargreaves, a Champions' League winner, said: "Any time you can have the public's support is great. Obviously before the World Cup I got a taste of the other side of it but it's far better to be on the positive side.

"I saw some English people when I was on holiday in Dubai and it was great. They came up to me and thanked me for working so hard. They just said thanks, which is the best thing you can really say to someone."

England fans have been urged to buy tickets for next week's friendly with Greece before lunchtime tomorrow if they want to avoid big queues at Old Trafford next week. The Football Association have warned supporters that delivery of tickets to home addresses can only be made if bookings are confirmed on the official hotline by 2pm on Friday.

The World Cup warm-up suit of the former Germany coach Jürgen Klinsmann and the boots of midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, were among 4,000 items of World Cup memorabilia auctioned to raise €70,000 (£47,300) for charity.

Germany's World Cup organising committee officials said yesterday that the sweat-stained warm-up suit worn by Klinsmann, who stepped down after the finals, went to a winning bid of €620 while €500 was paid for Schweinsteiger's boots.

Four further auctions of World Cup items - everything from potted plants to the goalposts from pitches - will be held in forthcoming weeks. Proceeds are going to a charity foundation named after the organising committee president, Franz Beckenbauer, and another named after former West German captain Fritz Walter.