ADVERTISEMENTGermany celebrated their fourth World Cup title when they beat Argentina 1-0 after extra-time in the final at the iconic Maracana Stadium in Rio.
Mario Goetze, who replaced the tournament’s record scorer Miroslav Klose, struck the winner with style on 113 minutes.
In an entertaining finale to arguably the best World Cup in history neither side could break the deadlock after regulation time.
After a hotly contested first half of extra time between the best of Europe and best of South America, Goetze fired Joachim Loew’s side to the title when he expertly controlled an Andre Schurrle cross to volley home the winner.
It’s the fourth title for Die Manschaaft and first since Italy 1990.
A disgrace
Some fans are partying and some are scratching their head’s wondering how it all went so badly wrong.
The host nation couldn’t end with a third-place finish and conceded 10 goals in two matches, scoring only once.
An entire football-crazy nation has turned on their own Seleçao.
‘‘Disgrace’‘, ‘‘It’s a knockout’‘, ‘‘A disappointment’‘ and ‘‘horrible football’‘ were just some of the headlines coming out of Brazil following the home nation’s shocking end to their own tournament.
The press have been particularly sharp in their criticism of Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side who after an unconvincing start to the campaign by their own standards were humiliated by Germany in the semis.
They then lost the match for third place against the Netherlands which compounded a disastrous quest for a record-extending sixth World Cup title.
Brazil football across all levels will now be under the scrutiny spotlight.
Striker Fred has even retired from international football after some questionable displays this campaign – it’s unlikely he’ll be the only one.
Out with the old in with the new
The 2014 World Cup is over, but we’re already thinking about the next edition, 4 years from now. Let’s see together the handover ceremony for the 2018 World Cup, hosted by Russia.
there’s been more than 100 people from the Russia World Cup delegation in Brazil taking notes and keeping a close eye on how this summer’s event was staged.
The Russians took a step closer to hosting the event for first time after the official haning over ceremony.
ADVERTISEMENT2018 will also be the first time that a World Cup will be hosted in Eastern Europe.