Rio de Janeiro: New deities were consecrated at the temple of Brazilian football on Sunday and the colour of their jersey wasn’t yellow. The whole of Brazil must be happy that it wasn’t blue either. A vibrant crop of German players attained football nirvana at the Maracana here on Sunday. They got the better of Lionel Messi’s Argentina 1-0 in the final of the 20th Fifa World Cup, which will go down in history as one of the best. It was Germany’s fourth title and Europe’s 11th.
A tournament which started with Marcelo’s own goal ended with Mario Goetze’s magnificent goal in extra time. In a World Cup of substitutes and goalkeepers, the German became a record 32nd goal scorer from the bench. The winner was set up by another substitute, Andre Schuerrle. Goetze can’t be accused of lacking a sense of occasion as left the bench in the 88th minute to strike the championship goal midway through second extra time and send Deutschland to wonderland.
When penalties appeared imminent, Schuerrle whipped in a superb cross from the left. An unmarked Goetze controlled it with his chest inside the six-yard box before sticking it in the net from an acute angle. Even though Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Romero had the near post covered, Goetze found space to squeeze his volley in. The German playmaker may have been relegated from the first XI after a poor show against Algeria in the round of 16 but he proved that there is no substitute for talent in a crisis. After spending time in periphery, he became the centre of attention.
Although goals were at a premium, the intense match provided engrossing drama from start to finish. Time flew as if it had been injected with steroids and fans of both teams were at their wits’ end as a shootout looked inevitable. But Goetze’s timely intervention precluded the emotional trauma of penalties. Not only have the best team of the tournament won the title, the team with some of the top players in contemporary football have gone all the way in Brazil. The team that believed in collective work scored over the team that relied on individual brilliance.
On a glorious summer evening, the marvellous Maracana shimmered in the benevolent light of the sun as well as the artificial variety as thousands of fans streamed in for the match of their lives. If the result were to be decided by the number of fans, Argentina would have won hands down. Brazilians became one-day Germans to ramp up support for Joachim Loew’s Mannschaft.
Germany suffered a set-back even before a ball had been kicked when Sami Khedira was removed from the starting XI at the eleventh hour after he picked up an injury in the warm-up session. His name was in the team list given to reporters. Christoph Kramer took Khedira’s place. Andre Schuerrle replaced the baby-faced 22-year-old. But the two unexpected incidents didn’t faze Germany as they went for Argentina’s neck not with the urgency of a butcher’s knife but with the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel. Germany pressed their fearful, conservative opponents hard with a high defensive line.
Messi was in the mood early on as he set up a chance for Gonzalo Higuain before leaving Mats Hummels in his wake with a supersonic run on the right. Higuain would have sleepless nights about what happened a few minutes later. A poorly-timed defensive header from German midfielder Toni Kroos went haywire as the ball sailed over his back line. The ball nicely broke on to the path of Higuain and beating Manuel Neuer one-on-one was his simple task. But the forward shot the ball inexplicably and horribly wide. Higuain had the ball in the net soon but his effort was rightly ruled out for off-side. At the stroke of half-time German defender Benedikt Hoewedes crashed Kroos’ corner into a post as fans savoured every moment of 45 gripping minutes.
Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella made a tactical blunder by sending in half-fit Sergio Aguero to the excellent Ezequiel Lavezzi. Messi should have given Argentina the lead right after restart when he went clear on the left but the captain fired a shot wastefully wide across the goal.
Kroos wasted a fine cutback from Mesut Ozil in the last good chance in regulation time. Miroslav Klose made way for Goetze and the crowd gave the record scorer in the World Cup a standing ovation when he left the field after seeking out referee Nicola Rizzoli for a handshake. Argentine substitute Rodrigo Palacio should have scored in the first period of extra time when he confronted
Neuer all alone but his lob missed the target by some distance.
Goetze showed Palacio how it should be done seven minutes from time. Messi summed up Argentina’s miserable day in front of goal with a last-ditch free kick that threatened to go all the way to Buenos Aires. For the third World Cup in succession, Argentina have gone down to Germany in a knockout round. Unlike their loss at the hands of West Germany to a dubious penalty in the 1990 final, the defeat in 2014 was fair and square. The Albicelestes wore dark blue jerseys in Rio as they had done in Rome. Argentina’s trophy drought after winning the Copa America in 1993 continues while Germany ended theirs since Euro 1996.
Germany’s win should bring a sense of relief to neutral fans, for the champions aren’t cynical heirs to the country’s dour teams of the early 90s. It was a triumph of football. None symbolised
Germany’s fighting spirit more than Bastian Schweinsteiger as the midfielder soldiered on bravely until the end despite obvious physical discomfort.
The golden confetti that rained on the German team when Philipp Lahm lifted the famous trophy over his head seemed to represent the blessing of the whole world.
