Ten years ago, Germany won their fourth FIFA World Cup. Confusion, inspiration, Lionel Messi and Marco Reus feature as FIFA recalls their final success.
Germany won their fourth FIFA World Cup 10 years ago today
FIFA recalls some anecdotes from the day of the Brazil 2014 final
Confusion, inspiration, the woodwork, Lionel Messi and Marco Reus feature
Ten years ago, in the final of the 2014 FIFA World Cup™, Germany picked up their fourth star by beating Argentina 1–0 after extra-time at the Maracana. But it’s not just this incredible achievement that made it a day to remember. Certain moments from the event have achieved legendary status following the team’s triumph. FIFA have the stories behind the triumph.
We may never know what referee Nicola Rizzoli thought in that first moment. Was he dreaming or was it some sort of awful joke? What we do know is that in the middle of the first half, a German player suddenly came up to him and asked, “Is this really the final? Sorry, I have to know.” But Christoph Kramer wasn’t trying to get one over on the Italian – he’d had a blackout after a major collision with Ezequiel Garay.
“I can remember everything up to the 17th minute and everything after half-time,” said Kramer of a final probably even more memorable for him than for his team-mates. Thankfully, the tale has a happy ending and he recovered in time to join in the celebrations. “I’m also a bit fuzzy on what happened at the party after, but for different reasons!”
While Kramer was subbed off in the 32nd minute, Low wouldn’t make another replacement until the second to last minute. It was a substitution that would go down in history, not just because it called time on Miroslav Klose’s international career, having become the all-time leading World Cup scorer during the tournament. He would be coming off for Mario Gotze – and Low had a few extra words for Gotze before he went on to the pitch.
“What do you say to the player?” said Low in the documentary We Are The Champions as he recalled those seconds before the substitution that would concoct Germany’s winning goal. “With Mario, I wasn’t exactly sure, because sometimes it’s stupid giving forwards tactics. So I said, ‘This is your chance to show the world you’re better than Messi. Go out there and do something, make a difference and win us the game.’”
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