The 2014 World Cup came to an end today with an eleventh-hour win from Germany, their first victory since 1990. Here, our highlights from the match.
Mario Götze is the dark horse.
The surprise star of the match turned out to be 22-year-old Mario Götze, a last-minute substitute mid-fielder from the German team. Many fans had never heard his name before today—he was not on our list of the soccer players to watchbut he became the hero of Germany’s team when he entered the game near the end of regulation time and scored a brilliant goal at the 113th minute, just shy of the final’s end. We couldn’t help but notice that Götze’s goal was almost as beautiful as his girlfriend, Ann-Kathrin Brömmel, who may be the hottest WAG since Victoria Beckham.
Messi loses final, but wins the Golden Ball.
It's been well-documented that Argentina has yet to embrace Lionel Messi as the next Maradona. He's been criticized for leaving Argentina too young to play for Spain's FC Barcelona team. All would've been forgiven had he he won today's final, of course, but sadly, Messi failed to score, allowing Germany to win by just one goal in extra time. The look of pain on Messi’s face is one we won’t soon forget. But there was something of a consolation prize: FIFA awarded him the coveted Golden Ball award—the equivalent of MVP of the World Cup.
Germany is the first European team to win in the Americas.
The Germans have won the World Cup before—this is their fourth championship title—but this time they made history by becoming the first European team to win the global tournament in the Americas. (They also win $35 million in prize money from FIFA.) And while the result did not please Argentina, it undoubtedly pleased most Brazilians, who are probably relieved that their soccer archenemy Argentina did not take home the top prize. Still, considering it was the German team that humiliated Brazil with a 7-1 win in the last round, we don’t expect any Brazilians to be painting their nails with German flags anytime soon.