WORLD CUP 2014: GERMANY DESERVEDLY BASKS IN CHAMPIONS GLORY, AGAIN

Germany won the world cup in football (or soccer, if you prefer the American English terminology) again, after having taken the twenty-four year sabbatical from the duties of reigning world champion. I still remember Euro 2000, at which Germany was unable to win even one single match in the group stage. But the Germans are not about falling into despair or counting just for heavens' help while dealing with any crisis. The German Football Association immediately came up with a program of reform, which consequently was followed and brought consecutive semifinals (or more) at major football tournaments (world cups and European Championships) starting with World Cup 2006 (2002 World Cup final was rather an accident than a product of the reform). And now, after fourteen years of hard and methodical work, they reached the pinnacle, thanks to creative thinking of people responsible for coming up with the visionary program of developing young players, stemming from various ethnic groups of nowadays Germany. It is no longer the Die Mannschaft of old, as built by Sepp Herberger and Helmut Schoen, with boring and methodical football allowing to grind the wins out thanks to the Teutonic "never die" attitude. It is no longer the brilliant technically and tactically new Germany of early years under Jogi Loew (and Jurgen Klinsmann in 2006), going eventually soft, and being beaten by Italy (like in semifinals of World Cup 2006 and Euro 2012) or by Spain (final of Euro 2008 and semifinal of World Cup 2010). This Germany, at World Cup 2014, was able to finally bridge the quick passing game (called here and there "quickie-taka"), characterized by high level of technical and tactical skills, with the old "never die" attitude, recovered in the matches against Ghana, USA, Algeria and France. And then, they put it all together against the weak Brazil, and we had to witness the "Mineirazo" (from the name of the stadium in Bello Horizonte which will be known as the place of the biggest collapse in the history of football) pushing away the Maracanazo into the ancient history annals, and itself entering the folklore of the modern world football. Argentina played very smart football in the final, attempting to liquidate all pockets of space between the lines of midfield and defense, yet eventually they were worn out in the overtime, and unable to hold tight spaces any longer, having in addition one day less for recovery than the Germans. Without having Di Maria, who could accelerate and create holes in German defense, it was only up to Messi to try to make the runs at German defense. And Messi did try to do so on his tired legs, and scared Hummels immensely on occasions by decelerating and accelerating, yet it was not to be. Germany had too many assets at their disposal, their bench was full of players who were not only equal to those who started the match, but even better in certain aspects (like Andre Schurrle or Mario Goetze). Argentina, did not have such riches at their disposal, and their coach Alejandro Sabella brought on not fully fit Aguero for tiring Lavezzi - otherwise having a good game - and colorless Palacios, for unlucky Higuain, the man who let Argentina down with his infamous miss. It seems, Messi has not surpassed Maradona yet in the pantheon of the greats, and the time is running out for him. But Messi, if he plays economically, might have another two world cups in him, although, Argentina (responsible for providing Messi's supporting cast) seems to have entered now the barren years, after the five world titles they collected in under 20 tournaments (from 1995 to 2007), thanks to program instituted in the 1990-s by Jose Pekerman. But Pekerman is gone, now coaching the brilliant Colombia, and Argentina stopped producing the great players they were known for between 1995 and 2008 (when they won under 23 Olympic final in Beijing). This Argentina was the oldest team in World Cup 2014, and unless there is a new wave of players coming in, they might have to wait for another generation to lead them to a world cup final.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney, writing on legal and other community important subjects. You may reach him by telephone (212) 634-4250 or through e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com