In a repeat of the 1986 and 1990 World Cup finals, Germany defeated Argentina in a thrilling encounter to lift the coveted World Cup trophy at the Maracana Stadium in Brazil on Sunday. Bayern Munich’s Mario Gotze was the hero on the night after he scored a sublime goal deep into second half of extra time to hand the Germans their fourth World Cup.
Gotze superbly took down Andre Schurrle’s pinpoint cross on his chest with his first touch and poked the ball with his left foot past Sergio Romero into Argentine’s goal to spark wild scenes at the Maracana. Germans are worthy champions and the most consistent team at the World Cup since 2002, when they lost in the final to Ronaldo Lima and co.
They dismantled and annihilated the host nation, Brazil 7-1 in the semi-final; however, the final was a close encounter which saw both teams go head to head. Lionel Messi, who is unarguably the world’s best player, was on-form and caused the German defence a lot of troubles but his team mate, Gonzalo Higuain squandered chances to put Argentina in front in the first half.
Germany’s coach, Joachim Low lost his defensive midfielder, Sami Khedira to a calf injury in the warm-up and his replacement, Christoph Kramer had to be removed from the game, concussed after clattering into Ezequiel Garay. It was Kramer’s replacement, Andre Schurrle who produced a good cross for Mario Gotze to score.
In the third/fourth play-off played on Saturday, Brazil succumbed to another humiliating defeat at the hands of Netherlands. Robin van Persie, Daley Blind and Georgino Wijnaldum all scored to give the Dutch a resounding 3-0 win. Brazil coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari resigned a day after the game.
Lionel Messi was compensated with the Golden Ball award as the best player in the tournament. Germany’s Manuel Neuer took home the Golden Glove award. Despite being knocked out in the quarter-finals, James Rodriguez of Colombia finished as the tournament’s top scorer with five goals whilst Paul Pogba was awarded the Best Young Player award in the tournament.
Germany: Neuer – Lahm, Boateng, Hummels, Howedes – Kramer (Schurrle, 32), Schweinsteiger – Muller, Ozil (Mertesacker, 119), Kroos – Klose (Gotze, 88).
Unused subs: Zieler, Grosskreutz, Ginter, Podolski, Draxler, Durm, Khedira, Weidenfeller, Mustafi
Booked: Howedes, Schweinsteiger
Goal: Gotze 113
Argentina: Romero – Zabaleta, Demichelis, Garay, Rojo – Mascherano, Perez (Gago, 86), Biglia – Messi, Higuain (Palacios, 78), Lavezzi (Aguero, 46).
Unused subs: Orion, Campagnaro, Di Maria, Rodriguez, Augusto Fernandez, Federico Fernandez, Alvarez, Basanta, Andujar.
Booked: Mascherano, Aguero
Man of the match: Mario Gotze
Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (Italy)
Attendance: 74,738
