One suspected before the tournament that a
man named Mario might be the decisive factor in the later stages – it just
turned out that his surname wasn’t Balotelli.
With Sami Khedira injuring his calf during
the warm-up, Christoph Kramer fitted into the German starting eleven for the
third meeting between the two nations in a World Cup final. The early signs
were that it was going to be a repeat of 1986 rather than 1990, as Gonzalo
Higuaín missed on twenty minutes before having his goal on the half hour, the
result of a Lionel Messi pass and an Ezequiel Lavezzi cross, correctly
disallowed. It kept getting worse for Die
Mannschaft: bookings for Bastian Schweinsteiger and Benedikt Höwedes, and a
forced substitution before the break as an injured Kramer was replaced by André
Schürrle.
Furthermore, no matter how many defenders
they had swarming around Messi, the little master still managed to find space.
In the thirty-fifth minute, he reminded us of his brilliance when he
wrong-footed two Germans, only for a third to be forced into booting the ball
away for a corner. It was two minutes after that when the tide started to turn.
Schürrle forced a save from the Argentine goalkeeper, Mesut Özil managing to
make himself useful for once by ducking out of the way. The next chance was a
cross from Thomas Müller which curved the wrong way for Miroslav Klose, and the
first half ended with a flurry of German corners, one of which was headed into
the post by a rampaging Höwedes.
And so ended a half in which there was
nothing to separate the two sides. When they returned, Lavezzi – presumably
injured – had been replaced by Sergio Agüero and Messi was again a threat in
front of goal, finding space behind the German defence and shooting
uncharacteristically wide in the forty-seventh minute. The match soon settled
into its familiar rhythm: the three-time champions controlling possession (they
had sixty-three percent of it, coupled with Barcelona-esque passing and pass
accuracy statistics) but playing reactively rather than proactively, la albiceleste dominating the midfield
and challenging for the ball high up the pitch.
The hype about 1986 versus 1990 gave way to
comparisons with 1982 just before the hour mark, when Manuel Neuer battled with
Higuaín for a high ball just outside the penalty area; the connection of the
German keeper’s knee with the Argentine forward’s head bringing back memories
of Harald Schumacher on Patrick Battiston in that year’s semi-final. It was the
South Americans, however, who would ramp up the physicality. Javier Mascherano
and Agüero were cautioned in consecutive minutes for challenges on Klose and
Schweinsteiger respectively, while Lucas Biglia got away with seemingly worse
aggressions against Philipp Lahm. There would be little more to the match until
the end of regulation time, only a few substitutions, the most noteworthy being
Higuaín’s removal in the seventy-eighth minute and Klose’s farewell to the
tournament of which he is now the all-time greatest scorer.
For the seventh time in nineteen World Cup
finals, extra time was required. Both teams traded chances early on, and
substitute Fernando Gago had another in the ninety-seventh minute but failed to
steer a bouncing cross under the bar. Agüero was lucky not to be sent off when
his fist connected with Schweinsteiger’s face early in the second overtime
period; the German needed to be treated for the resulting bleeding, but
returned to spend more time lying on the turf.
But just like at Wembley in 1996,
when a substitute won it in extra time for post-unification Germany’s first
European Championship, so it would be for the Berlin Republic’s first world
title. After a powerful run along the left flank from Schürrle was crossed into
the box, Mario Götze, brought on for the aging Klose in the eighty-eighth
minute, volleyed the ball into the top right-hand corner of the net after
coolly chesting it onto his feet.
That, of course, wasn’t the end of it.
There were four minutes of injury time, thanks firstly to Joachim Löw taking
off Özil in the one hundred and twentieth minute to give Per Mertesacker some
time on the pitch, and secondly to Bastian Schweinsteiger writhing around in
agony after an injury time challenge on Messi. With a free kick awarded and the
seconds ticking down, the man who would be named player of the tournament a few
minutes later opted to roll the dice, but his effort from twenty-five metres
out sailed over the bar without bothering Neuer.
Cue scenes of jubilation from the German
camp, and from Angela Merkel, whose undignified barracking – so unfortunately
typical of the modern politician – has marred what was otherwise a marvellous
campaign. This victory was the first in nine attempts by a European nation in a
World Cup staged in the Americas – combined with Spain’s win in South Africa
and the increasing irrelevance
of the away goals rule in European club competitions, perhaps a sign that
geography is no longer destiny at this level of the game.
The last few World Cups prior to this one
had been, quite frankly, rubbish. Perhaps the last good World Cup was France
’98; certainly no great ones had been staged from Italia ’90 onwards. 2002 was
marred by biased refereeing; 2006 and 2010 continued the post-1990 trend of low
goals-per-game tallies, stifling commercialisation, and players unable to
perform at their peak after tiring club seasons. With modern schedules and
playing conditions, there can probably never be another tournament quite like,
say, España ‘82.
But Brazil put on the best World Cup
possible under the circumstances. Unfancied teams, such as Algeria, Ghana,
Costa Rica, and Australia, resisted the temptation to park the bus in front of
goal and produced exciting, attacking play. The goals per game average was
2.67, equal to France ’98, and up from 2.3 in 2006 and 2.27 in 2010 (since
stabilising below three in 1962, the figure has fluctuated
between a high of 2.21 in 1990 and a low of 2.97 in 1970). Matches were played
in a variety of weather conditions, from the driving rain of the
Mexico-Cameroon group stage clash in Natal to the oppressive Fortaleza heat
which turned the Netherlands-Mexico knockout match into a game of four quarters.
Even the controversies were fun: the drones spying on French training sessions,
Pepe’s meltdown, the laser being shone in the Russian goalkeeper’s eyes, Zúñiga’s
tackle, and the FIFA associate fleeing Rio and Interpol via a side door in his
hotel.
And best of all, the tournament wasn’t
dominated by the same big-name players we see every week in the big European
leagues. Rooney, Xavi, Balotelli, and Özil underwhelmed, Suárez positively
disgraced himself, and Belgium’s star-studded line-up did little to justify its
pre-tournament ‘dark horse’ tag. Instead, the limelight was stolen by the likes
of Ligue 1 star James Rodríguez, Mexico’s clubless goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa,
and Dutchman Wesley Sneijder, written off as an irrelevance after transferring
from Internazionale to Galatasaray. Perhaps the only things which could have
made this World Cup even better would have been a Brazilian triumph, and the
sight of Didier Drogba steering Les
Éléphants to the promised land of the knockout stages.
Germany 1 (Mario Götze 113’) – Argentina 0 (a.e.t.)
Cautions: Bastian Schweinsteiger (Ger.) 29’;
Benedikt Höwedes (Ger.) 34’; Javier Mascherano (Arg.) 64’; Sergio Agüero (Arg.)
65’
