Mario G?tze?s left-foot volley after having chested the cross from Andr? Sch?rrle might have earned the goal that won the Germans the 2014 Fifa World Cup, but their belief in being eine mannschaft (one team) is what makes them the true world champions. Playing against Argentina for the trophy in Rio de Janeiro, the Germans demonstrated what exactly makes football the beautiful game. This was united Germany?s second World Cup win.
That both G?tze and Sch?rrle were substitutes, and off the bench, they scored the lone goal of the World Cup final showed how Germany built a team to win instead of relying on stars despite not being short of any. It brings to mind both finalist Argentina and its rival and host nation Brazil, which came to the World Cup tacitly banking on Lionel Messi and Neymar, respectively?at least to a noticable degree. Contrastingly, even as injuries and yellow cards put starters out of match in the final, German replacements stepped up and carried the team to its eventual win. No one star, and yet so many?Manuel Neuer, winning the Golden Glove as the best goalkeeper, Thomas Mueller becoming the runner-up for the highest number of goals scored in the tournament. The world champion now, Germany realised each bit of its slogan??Eine land, eine mannschaft, eine traum? (One nation, one team, one dream) and became die mannschaft (the team). The only sad note? This probably is the last World Cup appearance for Miroslav Klose, that talented striker.