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Germany ousts Argentina in extra time for fourth World Cup title

GermanyCelebrateWorldCup2014 (Getty)

By CARL SETTERLUND

Some may have questioned when German manager Jogi Löw subbed out the World Cup’s all-time goal scoring leader Miroslav Klose in the 88th minute, but it turned out he was just replacing one legend with another.

Substitute Mario Götze proved the hero, as the 22-year-old got on the end of left-sided cross by André Schürrle, chesting it down by the near post and then beating Sergio Romero across the body in the 113th minute for the lone goal as Germany beat Argentina 1-0 in the World Cup final at Estádio Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro.

Germany won its fourth World Cup, becoming just the third nation to do so along with Brazil, which as won five, and Italy. It is Die Mannschaft’s first World Cup title since 1990 in another 1-0 game against La Albiceleste.

The Germans also notably became the first European team to win a World Cup in the Americas, providing some solace to host nation Brazil in denying rival Argentina.

La Albiceleste had several chances to score, including a long free kick for Lionel Messi in the final moments of overtime that he sent uncharacteristically off target.

Of more danger, though, Gonzalo Higuaín had two strong opportunities in the first half hour that he was unable to put away.

Argentina had a golden chance in the 21st minute when Toni Kroos had a poor turnover, sending a header back in front of goal to Higuaín. The Napoli striker folded in the big moment, though, sending his open look wide left.

There was more heartbreak for Higuaín in the 30th minute after finding himself offsides to spoil great passes by Messi and Ezequiel Lavezzi, who crossed it in for Higuaín to redirect in from close range. Higuaín didn’t realize it was called off until well into his celebration.

Germany was forced into an early substitution in the 32nd minute, bringing on the attack-minded André Schürrle to replace Cristoph Kramer, who suffered an earlier head injury.

Kramer was himself a late addition into the lineup after Sami Khedira was thought to have suffered a calf injury in warm-ups.

Messi got in down the right end line in the 40th minute, dribble it past Manuel Neuer, but he couldn’t get another touch as Jérôme Boateng swooped in for a clearance.

Messi also had the first chance of the second half, getting free for a shot at the edge of the box in the 47th minute. He sent a low shot across the face of goal, but it went just right.

Kroos had a pair of good looks at goal, most notably sending it wide right on a strong look from 20 yards in the 81st minute.

Argentina can claim it suffered from the absence of star winger Ángel di María, who was not able to play with a suspected thigh injury. Di María also missed the semifinal.

This year marked the third time Germany and Argentina have met in a World Cup final, the most any two teams have squared off (Brazil and Italy are the only two teams that have met more than once).

The epic rivalry between the two began when a Diego Maradona-led Argentina won the title in 1986, only to lose the rematch versus West Germany in 1990, a team that included Jürgen Klinsmann.

More recently, Germany had knocked La Albiceleste out of the previous two World Cups – both times in the quarterfinal round – making this the third straight time World Cup that Germany has eliminated Argentina.

Messi was awarded the small consolation of winning the Golden Ball as the tournament’s most outstanding play, having scored four goals.

German Manuel Neuer was named the World Cup’s top goalkeeper, while Thomas Müller fell short of becoming the first player to win the Golden Boot twice, finishing with five goals to leave him one behind Colombia’s James Rodríguez.

Comments

  1. Well this World Cup was krap, specially after the group stage. We must’ve had the most 0-0 1-0 and pk shootouts in the knock out stages of any WC I can remember (Brazil should not count). The refereeing was abysmal and FIFA made a joke of itself with the awards (Messi could not even believe it himself.

    At the very least, the best team in the tournament won, hands down. It would’ve been an injustice if Argentina won in another pk shootout. And, Brazil better get their act together rather soon because if they play like this in CONMEBOL qualifying, they ain’t going to be in Russia.

    One final thought, if the USMNT was successful in this WC after getting out of the group of death, and Klinsmann is staying as coach with his vision and program, anything less than the quarters in 2018 is a failure.

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    • I agree, I can’t believe everyone is still gloating about how great this WC was, because there was such a great group stage. Wup-dee-do. Beyond that, and except for Brazil crashing out, very predicitable and boring. Same usual teams in the semi-finals. Domestic leagues are better than this.

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  2. German’s fitness coach is an American, Shad Forsythe, who was hired by Klinsmann in 2006. After this WC, Shad will be joining Arsenal the team whose coach Wenger, the pioneer in the fitness and diet for football.

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  3. Does everyone agree that Neuer deserved best goal keeper of the tournament?

    It may be customary to automatically give the award to the goalkeeper on the winning team, I don’t know. Though that would be a weak award.

    Anyway, I just feel like I never saw the guy on the highlights reel during the tournament b/c Ochoa, Howard, Navas, Enyeama, etc. were making absolutely stupid saves. In terms of the number of shots on goal actually saved, there is no way he was anywhere close to those other GKs.

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  4. Germany are undisputed world champions — no losses in group stage, no PK shootouts in the knockout rounds, and a thunderous strike by Goetze to seal the cup today. I can’t recall a WC champion with a start to finish tournament this complete. I wanted to see Messi own the final, but am just thankful the WC didn’t end with a goalless shootout or a weak goal like Iniesta’s in 2010.

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    • Dunno what’s wrong with Messi. It’s either his body or he has the same thing Donovan got. Man needs some time off.

      To be honest, he is still prolly injured from like… last year. His club needs to let him get healthy or Make him get healthy.

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      • It wasn’t that he was terrible. He just isn’t the kind of player who can control a game on his own… he doesn’t have the stature or tackling ability to win balls in the middle of the field– he needs service (Maradona did better at earning his side possession, but that was a different era so perhaps not fair to compare).

        Messi is an epic stud when his team spends 65+% of the time in the attacking half (we might well have been very f*cked if he were Belgian), but that’s not what this Argentina team did or was designed to do (at least in the later stages). Marking him out of the game was all too easy.

      • I do agree that he isn’t suited to the #10 work load. It does, despite being a creative roll, require a lot of running and hard work. Ozil is kinda soft on the tackle but its not an issue as he presses so hard. Argentina can’t press like Germany has they really don’t have the midfield platform for it. I think you are right that Messi would be much better in that roll if could press like Barcelona(and germany) do.

        Also oddly Maradona despite being shorter is a much more physically strong player and it showed in his game.

      • +1 He was a monster. Dude could flat-out boss people twice his size if needed. I always found one of the most interestng thoughts on Maradona to be the quote from Paolo Maldini:

        “He was the greatest and was respectful of everyone, regardless of whether they were top stars or an average squad player. He was repeatedly kicked around and never complained, which is a far cry from today’s strikers!”

        (I do not include this as a slight against Messi, who is a great advertisement for the game, simply as a unique take on Maradona that I thought to be worth sharing)

    • Neuer was in the box and played the ball. Might not like it, but the laws of the game give the right of way to the GK on that play every time.

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      • Indeed. Not that the job wasn’t already done. Higuain’s scuffed shot when in alone 1v1 in the first half, as well as Palacio’s comedy “ankle lob” under similar circumstances. both appeared to be products of the “hearing footsteps” phenomenon, to borrow from the NFL lexicon. Neuer was in their heads before this thing even started, and he drove the point home quite directly in that moment. Risky maybe, but he made his statement and was consistent. He’s going to be a beast to deal with for a decade plus. Monster keeper.

  5. Juhu! Wir haben es geschafft! We did it. I love the World Cup.

    Thanks for your coverage Caitlin, Franco, Tim, Carl, Dan, Tate, Garret and Ives. It’s been a blast – thanks for bringing it to us.

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      • I knew it would take less than 10 posts before someone made an inference that we are right up there with Germany.

        NICK 91…the best post I have seen in a long time

        Increase0….please tell me you are joking

        We live in the country with the great number of resources in the world…
        The reason we MAY NOT get it any better in the US is a lack of a plan for player development
        Why?
        a) Gulati does not have the balls to put it into place because he will piss off all of the corporate/soccer parents that get his weasle a@@ elected
        b) Klinsmann is also the Tecnical Director (that is what 2.5 million a year gets you) and he does not have the forsight to put into place a plan
        He has had plenty of time to do so.
        If you think we have a plan even remotely close to Germany’s you are too cluless to even talk with

      • Joking?

        The country being wealth and soccer being wealth aren’t the same things.

        In 2010 the Bundesliga had €1.7bn in revenue.
        In 2010 the MLS had well we don’t know because they don’t tell us but the incoming TV deal was worth like $70 million a year.

        So yeah, Germany has hundreds of clubs kids can be trained at for almost free and the US has 19 MLS teams.(Apparently DC United still makes kids pay quite a lot.)

        Thats the money breakdown.

      • Excellent post, Increase. Love the digging on the numbers.

        As for you, expat… it’s getting ugly. “Klose”? Really? What was wrong with “Fast Eddie?” He hinted that he was German sometimes. Or whatever… just go back to Baptista… or maybe just plain old “expat4455”. Up to you.

      • I actually agree with you. The program has been mismanaged. We need Klinsmann to replace Gulati and get a real world class coach like Loew.

      • It’s not a bad thing if Klinsmann takes over 100% If Gulati is indeed holding back Klinsmann, over the development of the structure of soccer in America; that’s not a good thing. Klinsmann is a terrific MANAGER, leader, and visionary. In these ways, he’s a great coach, who knows how to hire support for his shortcomings. If he really does have the power to do so, he’ll put into place, the pieces he needs, to take this federation to the next level. Behind the scenes, I have no idea.
        Low thanked Klinsmann immediately after winning the World Cup. That’s respect and just shows you the vision Klinsy had/has. Not sure on the cash aspect and what kind of money is getting poured into our federation, but I’m sure it’s bigger than it was June 1st, 2014.

        Low would come coach USA at some point, I’m sure. Germans love America and those two are friends. He’s a briliant tactition who Klinsy hired. He can hire him again.
        One can hope!!!

    • Ok but it’s not like they were some soccer wasteland. They won Euro 96 and got to the final of the 2002 world cup and that was apparently their “dark age.” The current team is obviously loaded but it’s not like all of the sudden they were great. This was already one of the top 5 soccer countries in the world.

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    • Yes, there’s a good piece from the Guardian last year about it. There’s also a piece in the NY Times in June of 2010 about the Ajax system. Both great reads for any American soccer fan that has hopes of the U.S. winning the Cup.

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      • Th at Ajax article is a great read. Its well written and informative. I would suggest finding it if you can

      • Yeah, I recommend them because most (MOST, not all) U.S. fans I come across don’t seem to have any conceptual framework as to how the great soccer nations “make” a pro player. By way of example, all the players in the quarter-final round or later have been training in “academies” (either run by pro clubs or funded by national federations) since around 7-10 years old.

        The U.S. just has such a ways to go before it genuinely is in competition for something like the Cup. There’s so much raw infrastructure that just isn’t there, not to mention trainers who can teach the tactical stuff (no offense meant by this).

      • I’m not worried about them. It’s the dummy Americans who think we’re doing well and “worked real hard.”

        But now that you’ve said it…

      • Good post. We are dummies to think we are really getting better.

        I know, maybe we can import more English coaches who fake their credentials and find their way into affulent communities.

      • Yeah, I’ve had my share of run-ins with those guys. They can stay on the other side of the pond and play crappy football.

    • All this talk of the US winning a cup is great – I would love to see it. at the end of the day – 3 countries have won 13 of the 20 WC’s played, All countries to win, except Brazil and Spain have won on home soil.

      my point . . . the deck is stacked against us . . by tradition and ability. We need to get players who are comfortable with the ball and can deal with pressure.

      I hope the next 4 years are fun as we try to grow to the next step

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      • Agree with the sentiment, although your stats are a bit odd (unless I am misinterpreting). Both Uruguay and Germany have won WC’s away from home… Both times in Brazil, interestingly. Are you exculding them because they have also won on home soil?. Or are you talking about continents maybe?

    • Germany doesn’t have the NFL, NBA and other sports to draw the best athletes away. MLS doesn’t have the same glitzy attraction. Every time the world cup comes around, people come out of everywhere to boast about their hatred of soccer and pat themselves on the back about how macho and apple pie American they are. Even journalists get in on the action. Until everybody shouts them down as being ANTI-American idiots, people will keep doing it. It shuts people up real quick when you call them anti-American. That’s the tact soccer fans should use instead of trying to defend the sport. In the world of debate you need to attack, attack, and attack character; defending is a losing strategy.

      Anyway, Germany has won the World Cup many times and is a regular contender. They aren’t do anything special. Look to the Netherlands–small group of athletes to work with–they do very well. Their coaching knowledge at the youth level is high, that’s where we need to be developing the right strategies.

      Also, not sure what the attraction to the MLS will be for American youth. Wages aren’t that high (compared to other sports), foreign superstars are brought in so for American youth, there is very little to feel a connection to MLS. American don’t go into professions where they feel corporations are bringing in foreigners to do the labor. Soccer is no different. People aren’t stupid.

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    • Last time he had those guys with him against German opposition, he was getting shelled 7-0 by Bayern Munich in the CL.

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      • … By “like,” I meant, like those guys in their prime… Didn’t mean to take anything away from Germany. All credit to them. They deserved the Cup.

      • I agree with this. Actually, it’s a pity that Di Maria was unable to go. I thought they missed him at least as much as Germany missed Khedira. But whatever… it happens…. as you’ve said, the best team won and it was a good contest..

      • Oh, yeah, duh, good point, I forgot about Di Maria. He would have certainly impacted the game today…

    • I think Messi needs a rest to be as effective as he can.

      I didn’t think it was necessarily lack of talent in the second half and ET, but rather that he just didn’t have the legs. Looked like a 30+ year old Landon Donovan.

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