Wow
seriously, this was a great game. Argentina with IMO their best half of the tournament. They took the game to germany for the first 55 minutes (and it was not like the german team was terrible), but then this german team took over the game and showed amazing mental toughness. Loosing a key player (kudos to Khedira for the sensibility to acknowledge he could not perform and miss the final that way instead of a futile attempt to play through it) minutes before the game, then having the replacement Kramer (who played a great game, too) knocked senseless and having to go out was allready a blow. Then Argentina delivered their best shot, they took it (with a bit of luck) and just continued to work their asses off.
They played for the win all game long, rather than trying to avoid the knockout. They were the team that wanted to have the ball and create chances, they moved the defense high up the pitch and tried the risky plays. A lot of gutsy individual performances and a few plain world class ones.
Just going to touch on a few of them here and now ...
Klose ! What can i say ? Great to see my favourite player get the cup today. Might have been his last NT game (but who knows ?
) and while he did not get past the argentine defense much, his own defensive efforts were once more outstanding for a striker. It´s got to be inspiring to see the oldest player work so hard and go those long distances back into the own half. Also, the way the grand stars on the podium embraced him, you can see how big his reputation is. Might not be the obvious star for fans, but for his peers and the legends, he is obviously one of them.
Neuer has got to be in the conversation for the best GK in history at some point. His ability to read plays and ability on the ball in addition to amazing core GK skills is unparalleled i think.
Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels were great at the back. Yeah, a few problems of course, but this was a WC final against guys like Messi, Higuain and Aguero.
Höwedes really, really played his heart out. Not really equipped to play the position, but got better as the torunament went on and his effort level was outstanding throughout.
Schweinsteiger was the leader of this bunch, played an outstanding final. Great defensively, always available for passes, lots of decisive runs.
Müller played his heart out again, even if he did not have the touch today. You can always use a guy like that, even on his worst day.
Götze with an absolutely magical goal. He lost a lot of credit in the last 2 years for me, but today he showed what once made a lot of people think he might be the next great mega star. He has amazing abilities, just needs to get his head into it a bit more in the future.
Also happy for a guy like Mertesacker who accepted his demotion with uncommon grace. Again, one of those guys you want in your corner.