To give the much-maligned Fred his due, he did test Neuer in the first half and twice more in the second, and was arguably the least ineffective of a wretched Brazilian team. But more German goals would come. In the twenty-ninth minute, even the big, versatile centre-back Hummels joined in the fun with a powerful, sustained burst. In a rapid move, he found Khedira, who took a precise return pass to make it 5–0.
Thereafter, with the game so amply won, the Germans gave Brazil a certain respite. Not until the sixty-ninth minute did they score again. This time it would be that prolific substitute Schürrle, who exploited Lahm’s pass with a firm drive. No one had marked him. He would score again ten minutes later, with a ferocious shot into the roof of the net from a narrow angle. Oscar’s late goal for Brazil was a sad irrelevance.
Holland, meanwhile, after their effervescent start against Spain, had laboured their way—rather like their opponents in São Paulo, Argentina—to the semi-finals, with Van Persie, scorer against Spain with that remarkable long-range diving header, clearly running out of steam. Against Argentina, even with Robben on parade, the Dutch would be defensive in a dull game. Robben, however, came so close to winning the match for them near the end of ordinary time, only to be tackled magisterially at the last gasp by Mascherano. When it went to penalties, this time Holland would not prevail. Two of their team refused to take them, Sergio Romero, the Argentinian keeper, saved twice, and one way or another Argentina were in the Final.
Their manager, Alejandro Sabella, once a Sheffield United player, received few plaudits. A joke circulated that he simply asked Messi two questions: Where do you want to play and whom do you want to play with? Which was at least an improvement on Diego Maradona, who, four years earlier, in his confused hegemony had wastefully stuck Messi out on the left wing.
A pungent vignette showed Sabella’s lack of proper respect from his team. When Argentina played Nigeria in Porto Alegre in a Group F game, squeezing narrowly through 3–2, with two goals by a coruscating Messi, Sabella tried to give instructions to the lively substitute winger, Ezequiel Lavezzi, who didn’t even bother to turn round as he drank from a water bottle, which he then threw over his shoulders, its contents spraying Sabella’s suit. In the Final, Sabella would take him off just when he was doing substantial damage.
In the event, it was the Argentine keeper Romero who kept his team in contention, saving from Holland’s Ron Vlaar and Wesley Sneijder in the penalty shoot-out.
So the Dutch had to be content with winning, with some ease, the third-place match in Brasilia. Brazil dropped half a dozen players, but there was no evident improvement, and the defence, which before the tournament had been seen as a strong point, was again inept, to be faulted on all three Dutch goals. And Holland themselves lost a key player in Sneijder, injured—how strangely often does this happen?—in the warm-up.
The return of Thiago Silva hardly consolidated the Brazilian defence. Indeed, it was he who gave away the penalty whereby Holland took the lead after a mere three minutes, hauling back Robben, who had been put clear by Van Persie’s fine through pass. Van Persie himself converted the penalty. The foul actually took place outside the box, which should have resulted in a free kick and Silva’s expulsion. Neither ensued.
When Luiz clumsily headed towards his own goal, the shamefully unmarked full back Blind drove the ball home right-footed. Luiz should have had a penalty when impeded by Blind, but right at the end Georginio Wijnaldum exploited a weak defence to convert Daryl Janmaat’s cross. ‘There is nothing I can criticise the players for,’ said Scolari, bewilderingly. Soon, he’d resign.
The Final in Rio underlined by implication just how bad Brazil had been, for Argentina, very much the underdogs, all but took it to penalties. Well though they played, and deservedly though they may have won in the end, on this evidence—and indeed that from certain earlier matches—Germany could hardly be called a super team. In the final analysis they may be grateful for the fact that in this game one scarcely saw the real, coruscating Messi, of whom there had been such flashes in the earlier phases before he manifestly tired.
This, of course, was the third World Cup Final between these teams, each of which had won once. This time, Argentina were undoubtedly the underdogs, yet how close they came to taking the lead after twenty minutes, against a German team which had lost the influential Khedira, who injured his calf in the warm-up. Surprisingly, Löw replaced him with Christoph Kramer, who had made just two brief appearances so far as a substitute. But Kramer himself was destined to be replaced, having collided painfully with Ezequiel Garay and giving way to an eventual hero in Schürrle, who was surely worthy of a starting role.
That was on thirty-two minutes, just a dozen after a potentially disastrous error by the usually impeccable Kroos had all but given Argentina the lead. Carelessly, he decided to head the ball back to Neuer, but it never got there. Instead, it fell short for Higuaín to pounce. Through on his own, he looked to his right and carried on, but made clumsy contact with his shin to pull the ball wide. Cue agony on the substitutes’ bench and despair from Sabella. When Higuaín did eventually get the ball in the net, he’d be given offside.
Overall, however, Germany—with Bastian Schweinsteiger at his most dominant and durable, brushing off at least four harsh and painful challenges—dictated play, with 65 per cent possession in the first half. At the break, Sabella contentiously replaced Lavezzi—a response to the way he’d been snubbed?—with Sergio Agüero, though the right-winger had been giving the left flank of Germany’s defence substantial trouble. As for Löw, he surprisingly kept the thirty-six-year-old Klose on for eighty-six minutes, though he was manifestly off the pace. It was Mario Götze, who so belatedly replaced him, who would score the spectacular goal that won Germany the World Cup.
Argentina continued to have their sporadic moments. Messi had a chance, but his shot flew wide. Eleven minutes into the second half, Neuer, punching the ball away from Higuaín, kneed the striker in the head but went unpunished by Signor Nicola Rizzoli, another of those permissive referees. He was also lenient when Benedikt Höwedes, not wholly happy at left back, endangered Pablo Zabaleta with a high boot. But Höwedes it was who, eluding Mascherano, headed Kroos’s corner against a post. Against that, the Argentine substitute Rodrigo Palacio, replacing Higuaín, threw away a fine opportunity when his shot flew over Neuer but wide of the goal, after he’d chested Marcos Rojo’s cross down.
So it was, after 113 minutes, that Schürrle ran forcefully down the left, past two defenders and crossed to Götze, who controlled the ball skilfully on his chest, then whirled to volley home with his left foot. Even the agile Romero could do nothing about that. It was a goal worthy of winning any World Cup.
‘It’s unbelievable what we have achieved,’ said the German captain Lahm, so influential both in midfield and at right back. ‘Whether we have the best individual doesn’t matter at all, you just need to have the best team. We improved throughout the tournament and didn’t get down when things didn’t always go our way. We just stuck to our path, and at the end we’re standing here as world champions. It’s an unbelievable feeling. The team stayed calm and patient; we knew that we had something left at the end.’
Thus, for the first time, a European team won the World Cup on South American soil. Only Messi, clutching his Golden Ball in deep dejection, might have stopped them. The real, fully fit Messi.
RESULTS: Brazil 2014
First round
Group A
São Paulo, Natal, Fortaleza, Manaus, Brasilia, Recife
Brazil 3, Croatia 1
Mexico 1, Cameroon 0
Brazil 0, Mexico 0
Cameroon 0, Croatia 4
Cameroon 1, Brazil 4
Croatia 1, Mexico 3
GOALS
P W D L F A Pts
Brazil 3 2 1 0 7 2 7
Mexico 3 2 1 0 4 1 7
Croatia 3 1 0 2 6 6 3
Cameroon 3 0 0 3 1 9 0
Group B
Salvado
r, Cuiabá, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, São Paulo
Spain 1, Holland 5
Chile 3, Australia 1
Australia 2, Holland 3
Spain 0, Chile 2
Australia 0, Spain 3
Holland 2, Chile 0
GOALS
P W D L F A Pts
Holland 3 3 0 0 10 3 9
Chile 3 2 0 1 5 3 6
Spain 3 1 0 2 4 7 3
Australia 3 0 0 3 3 9 0
Group C
Belo Horizonte, Recife, Brasilia, Natal, Cuiabá, Fortaleza
Colombia 3, Greece 0
Ivory Coast 2, Japan 1
Colombia 2, Ivory Coast 1
Japan 0, Greece 0
Japan 1, Colombia 4
Greece 2, Ivory Coast 1
GOALS
P W D L F A Pts
Colombia 3 3 0 0 9 2 9
Greece 3 1 1 1 2 4 4
Ivory Coast 3 1 0 2 4 5 3
Japan 3 0 1 2 2 6 1
Group D
Fortaleza, Manaus, São Paulo, Recife, Natal, Belo Horizonte
Uruguay 1, Costa Rica 3
England 1, Italy 2
Uruguay 2, England 1
Italy 0, Costa Rica 1
Italy 0, Uruguay 1
Costa Rica 0, England 0
GOALS
P W D L F A Pts
Costa Rica 3 2 1 0 4 1 7
Uruguay 3 2 0 1 4 4 6
Italy 3 1 0 2 2 3 3
England 3 0 1 2 2 4 1
Group E
Brasilia, Porto Alegre, Salvador, Curitiba, Manaus, Rio de Janeiro
Switzerland 2, Ecuador 1
France 3, Honduras 0
Switzerland 2, France 5
Honduras 1, Ecuador 2
Honduras 0, Switzerland 3
Ecuador 0, France 0
GOALS
P W D L F A Pts
France 3 2 1 0 8 2 7
Switzerland 3 2 0 1 7 6 6
Ecuador 3 1 1 1 3 3 4
Honduras 3 0 0 3 1 8 0
Group F
Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Cuiabá, Porto Alegre, Salvador
Argentina 2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 1
Iran 0, Nigeria 0
Argentina 1, Iran 0
Nigeria 1, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0
Nigeria 2, Argentina 3
Bosnia and Herzegovina 3, Iran 1
GOALS
P W D L F A Pts
Argentina 3 3 0 0 6 3 9
Nigeria 3 1 1 1 3 3 4
Bosnia & Herz. 3 1 0 2 4 4 3
Iran 3 0 1 2 1 4 1
Group G
Salvador, Natal, Fortaleza, Manaus, Recife, Brasilia
Germany 4, Portugal 0
Ghana 1, USA 2
Germany 2, Ghana 2
USA 2, Portugal 2
USA 0, Germany 1
Portugal 2, Ghana 1
GOALS
P W D L F A Pts
Germany 3 2 1 0 7 2 7
USA 3 1 1 1 4 4 4
Portugal 3 1 1 1 4 7 4
Ghana 3 0 1 2 4 6 1
Group H
Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, São Paulo, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Cuiabá
Belgium 2, Algeria 1
Russia 1, South Korea 1
Belgium 1, Russia 0
South Korea 2, Algeria 4
South Korea 0, Belgium 1
Algeria 1, Russia 1
GOALS
P W D L F A Pts
Belgium 3 3 0 0 4 1 9
Algeria 3 1 1 1 6 5 4
Russia 3 0 2 1 2 3 2
South Korea 3 0 1 2 3 6 1
Second Round
Belo Horizonte
Brazil 1, Chile 1
Brazil win 3–2 on penalties
Rio de Janeiro
Colombia 2, Uruguay 0
Fortaleza
Holland 2, Mexico 1
Recife
Costa Rica 1, Greece 1
Costa Rica win 5–3 on penalties
Brasilia
France 2, Nigeria 0
Porto Alegre
Germany 2, Algeria 1
São Paulo
Argentina 1, Switzerland 0
Salvador
Belgium 2, USA 1
Quarter-finals
Rio de Janeiro
France 0, Germany 1
Fortaleza
Brazil 2, Colombia 1
Salvador
Holland 0, Costa Rica 0
Holland win 4–3 on penalties
Brasilia
Argentina 1, Belgium 0
Semi-finals
Belo Horizonte
Brazil 1, Germany 7
São Paulo
Holland 0, Argentina 0
Argentina win 4–2 on penalties
Third-place match
Brasilia
Brazil 0 Holland 3
Júlio César; Maicon, Cillessen (Vorm 90);
Thiago Silva, Luiz, de Vrij, Vlaar, Martins
Maxwell; Gustavo, Indi, Blind (Janmaat
(Fernandinho 46), 70), Kuyt; Wijnaldum,
Paulinho (Hernanes de Guzmán, Clasie
57), Ramires (Hulk (Veltman 90), Robben;
72); Willian, Oscar; Jô Van Persie
SCORERS
Van Persie (pen), Blind, Wijnaldum for Holland
Final
Rio de Janeiro
Germany 1 Argentina 0
after extra time
Neuer; Lahm, Romero; Zabaleta,
Boateng, Hummels, Demichelis, Garay,
Höwedes; Schweinsteiger, Rojo; Mascherano,
Kramer (Schürrle 31); Biglia; Lavezzi
Müller, (Agüero 46), Messi,
Kroos, Özil (Mertesacker 120); Pérez (Gago 85);
Klose (Götze 86) Higuaín (Palacio 76)
SCORER
Götze for Germany
Index
Abbadie, Julio, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Abbes, Claude, 1, 2, 3
Abdelghani, 1
Abedayor, Emmanuel, 1, 2
Abegglen, Trello, 1
Abelardo, 1
Abrahamson, 1
Abramezik, 1, 2
Acero, 1
Acimovic, 1, 2
A’Court, Alan, 1
Actis, General Omar, 1
Adams, Tony, 1, 2, 3
Adamson, Jimmy, 1, 2
Adelardo, 1
Ademir, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Adriano, 1
Advocaat, Dick, 1, 2, 3
Aebi, 1
Afonin, 1
Aghahowa, 1
Agnolin, Luigi, 1
Agoos, Jeff, 1
Aguirre, 1
Aherne, Bertie, 1
Ahn Jung-Hwan, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Aigner, 1
Aitken, Roy, 1
Albelda, 1
Albert, Florian, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Albert, Philippe, 1
Albertini, 1, 2, 3
Alberto, Carlos, 1, 2, 3, 4
Albertosi, 1, 2, 3, 4
Albrecht, 1, 2, 3
Aldair, 1, 2, 3, 4
Al Deayea, 1
Aldridge, John, 1
Aleinikov, 1, 2
Alemao, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Alexandersson, Niclas, 1
Alfonsinho, 1
Alfredo, 1, 2
Algeria, 1 Matches: v. Austria (1982), 1, 2; v. England (2010), 1;
v. Germany (2014), 1;
v. West Germany (1982), 1, 2, 3
Allchurch, Ivor, 1, 2
Allemandi, 1
Allodi, Italo, 1
Allofs, Klaus, 1, 2, 3, 4
Almgren, 1
Alonso, Miguel, 1
Alonso, Xabi, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Alonzo, 1
Alpay, 1
Al-Sharif, 1, 2
Altafini, José, 1, 2, 3
Altobelli, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Alvarez, Eliseo, 1
Alvez, 1
Alzamendi, 1
Amaral, 1, 2
Amarildo, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Amarilla, 1
Ambrois, Xavier, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Amnesty International, 1, 2
Amokachi, Daniel, 1, 2
Amoros, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Amunike, Emmanuel, 1, 2
Anar, Pablo, 1
Ancelotti, 1
Ancheta, 1, 2, 3
Andersson, A., 1
Andersson, E., 1
Andersson, H., 1
Andersson, Kennet, 1, 2, 3
Andersson, Patrik, 1
Andersson, Sune, 1, 2, 3
Anderton, Darren, 1
Andone, 1
Andrade: 1930 Cup, 1; 1950 Cup 1, 2, 3, 4;
1954 Cup, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Andreolo, 1, 2
Anelka, Nicolas, 1
Angelillo, 1
Angola, 1, 2
Anoul, Pol, 1
Anselmo, Pelegrin, 1, 2, 3
Antenen, 1, 2
Antognoni, Giancarlo, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Antonio, Marco, 1, 2
Aogo, Dennis, 1
Aragones, Luis, 1
Aravena, Orlando, 1
Archibald, Steve, 1
Arconada, Luis, 1, 2, 3
Ardiles, Osvaldo, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Arellano, Jesus, 1, 2
Arena, Bruce, 1, 2, 3, 4
Arevalo, 1
Argentina, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; 1930 team, 1;
1950 withdrawal, 1;
1958 team, 1;
1962 team, 1;
1966 team, 1, 2;
1974 team, 1;
1978 team, 1, 2, 3, 4;
The Story of the World Cup Page 59