Before giving birth to a fresh beginning, an old life was first brought to its stale end. Hands clutching a digital board, the assistant referee signalled this change and the Maracana, all 74,738 spectators (including Argentines, Brazilians, us neutrals and of course the Germans) rose as one. Miroslav Klose, Germany’s number 11, had been substituted by coach Joachim Loew. And as he trudged off the field in the 88th minute, one of the greatest international careers had reached its finish-line. Klose, conjurer of a record 16 World Cup goals (two in this edition), and his second Copa do Mundo final were both over. He was the only player on this field to have experienced playing at this stage before. But quite like that miserable day in Yokohama from a dozen summers ago, Klose had found it impossible to penetrate a South American side’s defence in Rio de Janeiro as well. By the touchline, Klose soaked in the sights, sounds and smells of a World Cup field one last time and then turned around to look into the eyes of his waiting replacement — Germany’s number 19, Mario Goetze. It’s anyone guess what he barked into the 22-year old’s face after grabbing him by the cheeks, but the German lip-readers in the press box claim Klose said: “Machen mich stolz.” Or, ‘make me proud’. He did. Goetze sure did. Just 25 minutes after Klose had left the Maracanã field ‘one last time’, he was back on it and sprinting faster than he ever did in his role as a striker. That very replacement of his had dragged him back in by all but ensuring that Klose wouldn’t end his career without a World Cup trophy in hand. So he hunted Goetze down by the corner flag and planted a kiss on those very cheeks he was last seen pinching as a player. Then he pinched himself. No, not dreaming. Germany were seven minutes away from winning the World Cup. Deep in extra-time, Goetze had done what both sides had only been threatening to so far — break the deadlock. With his first touch, the Bayern Munich striker chested down Andre Schurrle’s cross from the left and on to his fast slipping feet. And then, his second touch sliced the ball horizontally, past a diving Sergio Romero and on to the side wall of the netting behind the right post. Extra-special In German, Goetze means God. But Romero looked like he had seen the devil himself. For 433 previous minutes, stretching back to their final round of group games, Romero and Argentina’s watertight defence (the brilliant backline of Pablo Zabaleta, Martin Demichelis, Lucas Biglia and Marcos Rojo plus the spectacular defensive midfielder Javier Mascherano) hadn’t leaked a goal during regular play. Consider this. The Albiceleste had never conceded a goal during extra-time in their 84-year World Cup history. Now, almost as incredibly, Lionel Messi’s were trailing for the first time in their entire World Cup campaign. Yet, just seven minutes of being in a team’s slipstream was enough to cost them the World Cup itself. When the final whistle blew, Philipp Lahm’s Germany had done what no European side had before, claiming a World Cup in the Americas. Now, the black, red and yellow of Deutschland’s flag was planted in Rio, just as it had once famously fluttered in Bern (1954), Munich (1974) and Rome (1990). The best team in Brazil had won. Several other sides during this World Cup had boasted of better individual players. But symbolically, Germany had beaten Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal to begin their campaign and Leo Messi’s Argentina to end it. And as a reward for that show of combined excellence, 23 tightly knit players took equal turns to hoist that glorious golden statue in the gleaming Rio horizon. While Germany’s golden generation had finally come through, one couldn’t help but bleed for that little man in Argentina’s number 10 shirt. Now 27, Messi perhaps realised that his best shot at the title had slipped inches past his left foot; a foot that had scored four goals for Argentina in this campaign and provided that all important assist to Angel di Maria in the pre-quarterfinals. In an injured di Maria’s absence, Argentina just didn’t have the same penetrating prowess up front in the final. Although Gonzalo Higuain would disagree. Argentina score.not In the 30th minute of the still-fresh and very-nervy contest, Higuain found himself alone in the best possible place on the field — just in front of Germany’s goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. Now all he had to do was cleanly collect the cross from Ezequiel Lavezzi, who was charging down the left flank. Lavezzi curved the ball in to Higuain, who sidefooted it past a rooted Neuer to rustle the net. But just as he flung himself into Messi’s arms in celebration, the linesman raised the wretched off-side flag. Rightly so, for Higuain was about two yards too far ahead. That flag, however, had stayed well down just 10 minutes earlier when Toni Kroos had his first brain-freeze moment of the campaign. Trying to head the ball back to Neuer from the centre of the field, Kroos played a silently lurking Higuain on-side and released Argentina’s number 9 directly towards goal. Higuain charged it down and a couple of free steps towards Neuer later, he pulled the trigger. But all he had forced out of the German goalie was a chuckle, as the attempt soared well wide. Such was Argentina’s match. Despite losing out to Germany on possession (37 per cent to 63) and shots on target (1 to 6), they were the more threatening side, having had plenty more chances than the opposition to break the deadlock. Just ask Messi himself, who began the second half with the miss of the match. Released into space with a Biglia carpet-pass in the 46th minute, Messi found himself in glorious one-on-one territory, curling his left foot towards the right corner of Neuer’s goal. Again, Neuer had to do little but count his blessings as Messi had curled that foot of his an inch too much. They shared sheepish smiles, just as they did again a couple of hours later on the podium when collecting their trophies — the Golden Glove and Golden Ball respectively. Again, it was a symbolic moment. Neuer’s gloves had done little all match, yet it managed to keep Messi’s golden ball and golden chance at bay.
