Author's note: My apologies for the delay of this post. Typhoon Rammasun (Glenda here in my native Philippines) caused a massive power outage that kept us deprived of much-needed electric supply for about four days, thus also keeping me out of the Internet for that length of time.
Didn't fail to miss out all the action as it happened in the final game between Germany and Argentina for the 2014 FIFA World Cup title. Just as I hoped and prayed, European pragmatism won over South American flair for the third time in a row as Germany won their fourth title overall and their first since the reunification of East and West Germany courtesy of a thrilling extra time goal (on the 113th minute to be precise) by substitute Mario Götze. The feat made Götze the first substitute in history to score the opening or only goal of a World Cup title match in regular or extra time.
Götze, deservedly named the Man of the Match for the final, actually came in as a replacement for Miroslav Klose in the 88th minute. It proved to be a genius move for Germany coach Joachim Löw as Götze, it turned out, would knock in the title-clinching goal for Die Mannschaft right past formidable Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Romero, triggering raucous celebrations among German fans around the world and sheer anguish upon the Argentines and their fans.
I, for one, really prayed long and hard for a German victory, even thinking "Please, Germany. Win this one!" to myself with every German possession. Two primary reasons led to me wanting for their victory: First, it's been 24 years since the Germans last won the World Cup title, when they were still divided into East and West Germany. And second, Polish-born German Klose is now the World Cup's all-time leading scorer, having achieved that feat in the masterful semifinal win over hard-luck Brazil. So it would be fitting enough for Germany to finally win a much-deserved first title as a reunified nation and for newly-minted all-time leading scorer Klose to cap his international career with a World Cup trophy.
In a chilling throwback to the 2010 tournament, an octopus in Germany named Kleiner Paul (Little Paul in English), who succeeded the late Paul the Octopus as the resident World Cup animal seer, predicted a German victory over the Argentines. And how right was his guess...and mine too! I always had this feeling that Germany will win, but it will be no walk in the park as Argentina are a much more organized team than Brazil. Whatever else, a win is a win. And Germany, perhaps the San Antonio Spurs of football today, finally fulfilled its promise with an exciting title victory.
Argentina, while very much like Brazil in terms of being a one-man team with Lionel Messi, surprisingly proved to be an even tougher opponent than their bitter South American rivals from the east. The way they played in the final seemed to me that they radically changed their game plan to prevent suffering the same fate as Brazil. As such, they proved to be well-deserved, kick-ass opponents to the highly-disciplined Germans as they gave the latter a lot of tense moments in the match, especially in the first half where Gonzalo Higuain had two clear opportunities to score a goal. The first was when he shot wide to the left of the goal after being put through on goal by an erratic header from Toni Kroos. The second was when he had a goal disallowed later in the half after being caught offside after tapping in a cross by Ezequiel Lavezzi from the right wing.
The final proved beyond doubt that Germany is the team to beat in the world today. In their last two games alone in the just-concluded World Cup, they've already managed to outscore 11 teams that have ever participated in World Cup history. For the record, they are Angola, Bolivia, Canada, People's Republic of China, Democratic Republic of the Congo (then known as Zaire in the 1974 tournament), El Salvador, Indonesia (then known as the Dutch East Indies in the 1938 tournament), Iraq, Israel, Togo, and Trinidad and Tobago. The best things about the Germans though are their topnotch national football training program, emphasis on teamwork, unwavering discipline and desire to win it all that won for them the ultimate prize in all of football. Simples.
So much for the German victory. On the other hand, I'm also saddened that other countries that have yet to win the World Cup, like Mexico (and Guillermo "Memo" Ochoa), Netherlands (and Arjen "Floppin'" Robben), the United States (and Tim Howard), Belgium and Costa Rica fell short once again. Up to this very day, the World Cup remains the sole dominion of UEFA and CONMEBOL teams. But as the saying goes, hope springs eternal. Before we know it, one of these winless teams might just take home the Holy Grail for the very first time ever come 2018. (Or perhaps even the hopefully much-improved Azkals will?!)
Now if only I could fulfill one of the things in my personal bucket list, that is for me to witness in my lifetime the Philippine Azkals and Malditas also winning the FIFA World Cup, even just once, like Die Mannschaft did. Wishful thinking alone won't do the trick, though, as this will definitely need more than just rehashing the Philippine national football program, lots of government and private funding and desire to win to make this dream a reality. To the German men's national football team and their fans, a huge congratulations to all of you for winning the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and here's looking forward to Russia 2018! Heil Die Mannschaft!
Didn't fail to miss out all the action as it happened in the final game between Germany and Argentina for the 2014 FIFA World Cup title. Just as I hoped and prayed, European pragmatism won over South American flair for the third time in a row as Germany won their fourth title overall and their first since the reunification of East and West Germany courtesy of a thrilling extra time goal (on the 113th minute to be precise) by substitute Mario Götze. The feat made Götze the first substitute in history to score the opening or only goal of a World Cup title match in regular or extra time.
Götze, deservedly named the Man of the Match for the final, actually came in as a replacement for Miroslav Klose in the 88th minute. It proved to be a genius move for Germany coach Joachim Löw as Götze, it turned out, would knock in the title-clinching goal for Die Mannschaft right past formidable Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Romero, triggering raucous celebrations among German fans around the world and sheer anguish upon the Argentines and their fans.
I, for one, really prayed long and hard for a German victory, even thinking "Please, Germany. Win this one!" to myself with every German possession. Two primary reasons led to me wanting for their victory: First, it's been 24 years since the Germans last won the World Cup title, when they were still divided into East and West Germany. And second, Polish-born German Klose is now the World Cup's all-time leading scorer, having achieved that feat in the masterful semifinal win over hard-luck Brazil. So it would be fitting enough for Germany to finally win a much-deserved first title as a reunified nation and for newly-minted all-time leading scorer Klose to cap his international career with a World Cup trophy.
In a chilling throwback to the 2010 tournament, an octopus in Germany named Kleiner Paul (Little Paul in English), who succeeded the late Paul the Octopus as the resident World Cup animal seer, predicted a German victory over the Argentines. And how right was his guess...and mine too! I always had this feeling that Germany will win, but it will be no walk in the park as Argentina are a much more organized team than Brazil. Whatever else, a win is a win. And Germany, perhaps the San Antonio Spurs of football today, finally fulfilled its promise with an exciting title victory.
Argentina, while very much like Brazil in terms of being a one-man team with Lionel Messi, surprisingly proved to be an even tougher opponent than their bitter South American rivals from the east. The way they played in the final seemed to me that they radically changed their game plan to prevent suffering the same fate as Brazil. As such, they proved to be well-deserved, kick-ass opponents to the highly-disciplined Germans as they gave the latter a lot of tense moments in the match, especially in the first half where Gonzalo Higuain had two clear opportunities to score a goal. The first was when he shot wide to the left of the goal after being put through on goal by an erratic header from Toni Kroos. The second was when he had a goal disallowed later in the half after being caught offside after tapping in a cross by Ezequiel Lavezzi from the right wing.
The final proved beyond doubt that Germany is the team to beat in the world today. In their last two games alone in the just-concluded World Cup, they've already managed to outscore 11 teams that have ever participated in World Cup history. For the record, they are Angola, Bolivia, Canada, People's Republic of China, Democratic Republic of the Congo (then known as Zaire in the 1974 tournament), El Salvador, Indonesia (then known as the Dutch East Indies in the 1938 tournament), Iraq, Israel, Togo, and Trinidad and Tobago. The best things about the Germans though are their topnotch national football training program, emphasis on teamwork, unwavering discipline and desire to win it all that won for them the ultimate prize in all of football. Simples.
So much for the German victory. On the other hand, I'm also saddened that other countries that have yet to win the World Cup, like Mexico (and Guillermo "Memo" Ochoa), Netherlands (and Arjen "Floppin'" Robben), the United States (and Tim Howard), Belgium and Costa Rica fell short once again. Up to this very day, the World Cup remains the sole dominion of UEFA and CONMEBOL teams. But as the saying goes, hope springs eternal. Before we know it, one of these winless teams might just take home the Holy Grail for the very first time ever come 2018. (Or perhaps even the hopefully much-improved Azkals will?!)
Now if only I could fulfill one of the things in my personal bucket list, that is for me to witness in my lifetime the Philippine Azkals and Malditas also winning the FIFA World Cup, even just once, like Die Mannschaft did. Wishful thinking alone won't do the trick, though, as this will definitely need more than just rehashing the Philippine national football program, lots of government and private funding and desire to win to make this dream a reality. To the German men's national football team and their fans, a huge congratulations to all of you for winning the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and here's looking forward to Russia 2018! Heil Die Mannschaft!
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