Thursday, 24 July 2014

2014 FIFA World Cup Final – Fourth title


In the Euro 2012, Germany was placed in group B along with Portugal, Netherlands, and Denmark. Germany won all three group matches. Germany defeated Greece in the quarter-final and set a record of 15 consecutive wins in all competitive matches. In the semi-finals, Germany lost to Italy by 1–2.


For the 2014 World Cup qualifying, Germany finished first in the group, qualifying for the World Cup. The draw for the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals placed Germany in Group G, with Portugal, Ghana, and United States. They beat Portugal by 4–0, of which three were scored by Thomas Müller. In their match with Ghana, they led the game with Götze's scond half goal, but then conceded twice to Ghana with two consecutive goals. At the 71st minute, Klose scored a goal, helping Germany to draw 2–2 with Ghana. With that goal, Klose also nudged home his 15th World Cup goal to join former Brazil striker Ronaldo at the pinnacle of World Cup scorers. They then went on to defeat the United States team 1–0, securing them a spot in the round of sixteen against Algeria. The match remained goalless after regulation time and resulted in extra time being played. In the 92nd minute, André Schürrle scored a goal from a pass from Thomas Müller, while Mesut Özil scored the second goal in the 120th minute. Although Algeria managed to score one goal in injury time it wasn't enough for them and the match ended 2–1 securing Germany a place in the quarter final, setting them up to play France.

In the quarter-final match against France, Mats Hummels scored in the 13th minute as Germany won the game 1–0 to advance to a record fourth consecutive semi-finals 

During the semi-final against Brazil, Germany became the first team in history to score 5 goals in 18 minutes during the first half. They scored 4 goals in just 400 seconds and were 5-0 against Brazil by the end of the first half with goals from Thomas Müller, Miroslav Klose, Sami Khedira and two from Toni Kroos. Miroslav Klose also netted his 16th World Cup goal in the 23rd minute to secure his place in history with the most goals scored during World Cup games adding further insult to injury to Brazil as he dethroned former Brazilian National, Ronaldo, who held the previous record at 15 goals, which was set in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Round of 16 match against Ghana.

Germany then scored two goals in the second half of the game, both from substitute André Schürrle, to break the record for most goals scored against Brazil in a single game. By 90 minutes, Germany lead 7–0. They did, however, concede a late goal to Brazil's Oscar. The 7th goal also broke the record for most goals in a single semi-finals game. It was Brazil's worst ever World Cup defeat whilst Germany broke multiple World Cup records with the win, including the record broken by Klose, the first team to reach 4 consecutive World Cup semi finals, the first team to score 7 goals in a World Cup Finals knockout phase game, the fastest 5 consecutive goals in World Cup history (4 of which in just 400 seconds), the first team to score 5 goals in the first half in a World Cup semi final as well as being the topic of the most tweets ever on twitter about a certain subject when the previous social media record was smashed after Germany scored their 4th goal. Germany went on to win 7–1. The following day, Argentina won their semi final match against The Netherlands after a penalty shootout.

In the World Cup Final which was held at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro on 13 July, Mario Götze's 113th minute goal helped Germany beat Argentina 1–0, becoming the first ever European team to win a FIFA World Cup in the Americas.