FIFA World Cup 2014 Schedule and Team Previews

[Imran Siddiqui]

So many close chances in the final! I was rooting for Argentina and there seemed to be so many times I was on my feet! Congrats to Germany though - spectacular last ET goal!

And maybe, hopefully, this game will put an end to the whole American (mostly) critique of 0-0 matches. This was a ridiculously entertaining match without any goals until in the 2nd ET.

[Ben Kenobi]

The critique is not so much of 0/0 games but that they don't play on until someone scores.

[Tuberski]

No, it's the 0-0 ties. The PKs at the end are more of an international critique... I think.

ACK!

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Biggest mistake from Argentina was not having called Tevez to join them. To have an in-form striker they would not only have won this final, but on the way to the final they would not have played so many 0-0 matches.

Not to call the best player of Italian champions, who was third best scored in Italy, while taking Higuain, who is in worse form and scored less while playing for a weaker Italian side, says all. Sadly it cost them, as with an in-form striker they would have been 3 up by the end of regular time. (not to mention that they forced injured Aguero on as well)

And so it goes, they have no such problems in Germany, they play with the best team available and were the best team of the tournament anyhow, a deserved victory, Argentina has a lot to regret though.

[Bereta_Eder]

germany was the best team of the tournament and they won fairly.

That said, Viva Argentina

[OneFootInTheGrave]

http://www.newsweek.com/where-does-brazils-loss-germany-rank-amongst-all-time-shocking-defeats-258105

Put it this way: When Captain Ahab spotted Moby Dick, he did not compare it to another fish. And nobody calls Shakespeare “The __________ of playwrights.” Like that morsel of cheese that we meet at the end of a certain nursery rhyme, Germany 7, Brazil 1, stands alone.

But what of other sports? Historical events? Military campaigns? Do any moments approach the standard set by die Mannschaft in Belo Horizonte? Before answering that question, we created a set of five criteria that defined Tuesday’s (mis) match and to which any analogue of such should attempt to adhere:

1) The losing side is the home team.

2) The stakes are high.

3) The conquest is swift, emphatic and cataclysmic.*

4) The losing side entered the match with the reputation of being dominant in the sport, art or practice in question.

5) The loss results in a paradigm-shift, either for the vanquished or for the entirety of that sport, art or practice.

* A helpful clue, particularly for sporting events, is network cameras panning the crowd for stunned or weeping spectators.

Not much comes close to this one... all in all it was a good, fun couple of weeks.

[H Tower]

I fail to see how that game has caused a paradigm shift in the sport. It was a very impressive victory for Germany, but it was only cataclysmic for Brazil on that day. It remains to be seen what if any continued affects it has on their football team.

[-Jrabbit]

Still, Brazil came out looking like a white shirt after a rack of BBQ ribs or a Prius after a "rolling coal" encounter.
Permanently stained.

[N35t0r]

Biggest mistake from Argentina was not having called Tevez to join them. To have an in-form striker they would not only have won this final, but on the way to the final they would not have played so many 0-0 matches.

Not to call the best player of Italian champions, who was third best scored in Italy, while taking Higuain, who is in worse form and scored less while playing for a weaker Italian side, says all. Sadly it cost them, as with an in-form striker they would have been 3 up by the end of regular time. (not to mention that they forced injured Aguero on as well)

And so it goes, they have no such problems in Germany, they play with the best team available and were the best team of the tournament anyhow, a deserved victory, Argentina has a lot to regret though.

Several people on the team don't get along with him.

Messi shouldn't have played that last match (and the previous two at least, for that matter). He certainly didn't distinguish himself, and there were several other players on the team that outdid him thrughout the championship.