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Tears of sadness and tears of joy. In the end, the best team won. Football won. Mario Götze cried after he scored the winning goal in extra-time for Germany. That was the first World Cup goal Argentina have ever conceded in extra-time.
Germany have scored 18 goals this World Cup tournament, the most for a team in one World Cup since Brazil in 2002. Germany also became the 1st European team to win a World Cup in South America, and the 2nd after Spain to win outside Europe.
Germany won the World Cup for the 1st time in 24 years after their record 8th final appearance.
Mario Götze is the first player to score a winning goal as a substitute in a World Cup final. He is the youngest scorer (22 years, 39 days) of a goal in a World Cup final since Wolfgang Weber in 1966 (22 years, 33 days). Sami Khedira is the 10th player to win the European Cup/Champions League & World Cup in the same season.
Argentina trailed for only 7 minutes at the 2014 World Cup.
There have been 8 matches that have gone to extra-time at this World Cup, a joint-record along with 1990.
Germany did not look like the team that beat Brazil and Portugal with big scores. Defensively, they were fumbling.
Road to Victory
The first chance for Germany to take the lead came when Müller was brought down metres away from goal. Schweinsteiger took the kick but managed to hit the wall.
After the free-kick, on the counter Higuain managed to get the ball across the face of goal.
Germany enjoyed most of the possession and when Argentina got the ball they would counter attack.
Argentina were the first with the corner. Lavezzi with the corner but Klose cleared it away. He got a second chance but handed it to Neuer.
Higuain who should have given Argentina the lead, sent the ball wide after Toni Kroos made a poor clearance.
Higuain was denied once more. He was offside.
Christoph Kramer was eventually substituted after he suffered a heavy blow to the head from the shoulder of Garay earlier in the match. Initially he came on for Khedira then came off for Schürrle.
Höwedes made a silly tackle on Zabaleta but got away with a yellow card. Höwedes was lucky not to see red. That would have been worse for Germany.
Germany were letting Messi roam free. They allowed him to weave his way around them, taking the ball forward and closer to the net.
A strong shot by Schürrle was pushed away by Argentina goalkeeper Romero.
Messi was left alone again, he ran with the ball towards goal but he was intercepted by Boateng.
It was 0-0 at half-time. 5 of the last 7 World Cup finals have been goalless at half-time.
Argentina made a half-time substitution with the introduction of Agüero for Lavezzi.
Messi continued where he left off. The ball only managed to move in front of the far post.
Neuer doing one of his sweeper moves, managed to catch a bit of Higuain after punching the ball away.
After 90 minutes and injury time, it was 0-0.
At the start of extra-time, Agüero managed to shoot the ball pass the face of goal. Minutes later Palacio had a better chance but he sent the ball wide.
Schweinsteiger had to leave the field of play bleeding after he collided with Agüero. Luckily for Argentina, Agüero was not shown a second yellow for his challenge.
Substitute Mario Götze controlled a pass from Schürrle with his chest and on the volley blasted it past Romero and into the far post.
A free kick was awarded to Messi after he was brought down by Schweinsteiger close to the danger area.
More tears were shed. Most of the Argentina team were crying. They got this far but it had to be Germany.
Germany 1-0 Argentina
Goals from Robin van Persie, Daley Blind and Georginio Wijnaldum saw Netherlands beat Brazil 3-0 to finish third.
Sneijder missed the chance to play in the 3rd and 4th play-off when he injured himself minutes before kick-off.
Netherlands are the second team at the 2014 World Cup to use all three goalkeepers. The other team was Portugal.
It was the 1st time that Netherlands finished 3rd at the World Cup, while it was the 2nd time since 1974 that Brazil settled for 4th place
Netherlands scored a total of 15 goals at the 2014 World Cup which is more than they netted in the previous 2 tournaments combined. They also managed to use all of their 23 man squad.
Jasper Cillessen is the first goalkeeper to be substituted off two times in the history of the World Cup.
The Netherlands journey to the 3rd & 4th play-off was nothing more than impressive. They beat Spain 5-1, which was payback for the 2010 FIFA World Cup final. It was a close call between the Netherlands and Australia when they won 2-3 after going behind 2-1. They then convincingly beat Chile 2-0 to win their group. In the round of 16, they beat Mexico 2-1 after scoring in the 88 minute and injury time. In the quarter-finals they won 4-3 on penalties against Costa Rica. Unfortunately they lost 4-2 on penalties against Argentina in the semi-finals. Leaving empty handed wasn't part of the plan as they won 3-0 against Brazil to take 3rd spot.
Brazil were 62 competitive games unbeaten at home before the 7-1 defeat by Germany on Tuesday now it's two defeats in two games. Not to mention, they conceded 10 goals in two matches.
Brazil suffered their 2nd consecutive loss. First losing to Germany and then Netherlands in the play-off. There was no method in their passes and their overall play.
Brazil lost two consecutive home games for the first time since 1940 and two consecutive World Cup games for the first time since 1974. They also ended the tournament having conceded 14 goals, the most since 1986.
Brazil's journey to the 3rd and 4th play-offs was not convincing. The win against Croatia was where it all began. Against Mexico, it ended 1-1. Then the victory against Cameroon was questionable. It could have ended against Chile who held them for a 1-1 draw, but penalties sent Brazil through. Another close call was between Colombia where James Rodriguez played exceptionally well, but it ended 2-1. The humiliation of 7-1 against sealed their doom. While the Netherlands took it down a notch to beat Brazil 3-0 for 3rd spot.
On his return captain Thiago Silva brought Robben down in the penalty box. The Netherlands were 1-0 up in 02:33 after Robin van Persie converted the penalty. This was also the 100th goal conceded by Brazil. Instead of a yellow card and a penalty, was it supposed to be a red card and a free kick?
Terrible defending by the Brazilians gave Daley Blind his first international goal. David Luiz had cleared the ball but managed to head it in the path of Blind who even had time to control it before scoring.
Oscar weaved his way around some Netherlands players and provided Brazil with their first good chance of the match.
Oscar was tripped by Indi outside the penalty area. It was taken by Oscar who sent it in but the ball was headed out for a goal kick.
Maicon was tripped outside the corner of the penalty box. Oscar took the kick but the ball went through and headed out by a Netherlands player for a corner kick.
Oscar was bringing in the free kicks but the ball kept avoiding the net and denied the Brazilians a goal. The ball would pass just inches in front of their boots.
Scolari made a half-time change. Fernandinho for Luiz Gustavo. Then 16 minutes after the restart, he brought in Hernanes for Paulinho and Brazil had one change left.
Brazil had another free kick at the edge of the penalty box. David Luiz for the kick, he saw the gap, took the shot but Cillessen caught it.
Brazil looked a whole lot better in the second half. The ball spent a lot of time in their possession. Which meant the Dutch defenders were troubled by Oscar and Jo.
Although Oscar was brought down in the penalty box, he was booked for simulation. He thought he would get a penalty but the referee thought otherwise. That was the first yellow card for simulation in this World Cup.
An injured Blind was substituted and Janmaat came on for him.
With about 15 minutes left, Hulk was introduced to make a difference.
Jordy Clasie became the second Dutch player to leave the pitch and be substituted and carried off the pitch.
In injury time, the Netherlands scored their 3rd and final goal. Substitute Veltman made the pass to Wijnaldum who scored the goal.