As one of the favourites to win the 2014 World Cup, Joachim Low’s team made their intentions known early on in the competition by crushing Portugal 4-0.
The unlucky number 13 will quickly be forgotten. History was made on July 13, in the 113th minute. A team that had been developing for more than 10 years made their mark at the World Cup.
The matchup with Argentina and the venue of the Maracanã in Brazil, one of football’s holiest locations, added to the experience.
Mario Gotze, who replaced experienced attacker Miroslav Klose in the 113th minute of the World Cup final, scored for Germany by taking advantage of a single opening in an otherwise impenetrable Argentinean defence.
It was the magical moment when, to the Germans, winning was the only explanation for years of arduous struggle and heartache.
Germany is now not even in the top 10 rankings
Although they broke a tonne of records throughout the competition, their from in last 5 years have seen a declination. A sample of what they accomplished is as follows:
- The first European squad to triumph in the Americas is the Germans.
- The first to hand Brazil its worst-ever World Cup semifinal loss (7-1) in history. The margin was the largest in a World Cup semifinal.
- They have advanced to the final eight times (more than any other team in the competition’s history), and this is their fourth World Cup triumph. They haven’t won the Cup since 1990.
- The previous team to score as many goals in a World Cup competition was Brazil in 2002; Germany has scored 18 goals in these finals.
- Klose’s goal against Brazil in the semifinals made him the highest-scoring player in World Cup history (16 goals).
- With just 13 World Cup games played, Thomas Muller has 10 goals and 6 assists.
- Mario Götze, who is 22 years, and 33 days old, is the youngest goal scorer in World Cup history and the first substitute to score a game-winning goal since 1966’s Wolfgang Weber.
Over the course of the competition, the German squad remained steady. They advanced to the World Cup final without needing penalties to determine their fate, having won six of their seven league games (including an exciting 2-2 draw with Ghana).
They only required extra time in the Round of 16 match against Algeria, which occurred again after the finals.
