Indeed, like in 2010, the best team won... by Odler Robert Jeanlouie

...and Messi won the Golden Ball of the tournament as Best Player, followed by Muller and Robben. James Rodriguez won the Golden Boot for his six goals in five games; he his followed by Messi and Neymar. Neuer won the Golden Glove as the Best Goalkeeper. Paul Progba won the Young Player Award.

They are the new and the confirmed stars. By the next World Cup, most will look the shadow of their today's selves. Anyone remember Xavi or Forlan of four years ago?

For this World Cup, Germany has been on everyone's list of likely winners. But no one wanted to put their money on them. They have been on top of European and World football since 2002, regularly showing up among the final four, but completely unable to cross the winning line.


They lost their own 2006 World Cup, to Italy. Two years later, they lost the Euro finals to Spain. In 2010, in South Africa, they lost the World Cup semifinal to Spain, again. In 2012, they lost the semifinal of the Euro to Italy. Always bridesmaid, never a bride.

But we should have known in 2013 that something had changed. The crossing of the Rubicon happened when Bayern Munich, staging seven players of the German national team, destroyed, humiliated Almighty Barcelona, in a two-game tie, by 7-0. Seven goals, any association?

At the World Cup this year, they never seem to be in real difficulty. They took care of their serious business on Day One, by beating the Portuguese by 4-0, and thereby qualifying for the knockout stage. Later, they played as they wished, and every time did the essential, which was not to lose. Then they taught a 7-1 lesson of humility to Brazil, a lesson that has forever altered the psyche of the South American power. After this defeat, Brazil will never be perceived as same. Never again.

Argentina on the other hand, winner of the South American confederation for the World Cup never looked quite convincing, beside the argument that they had La Pulga, Messi. With Aguero, Higuain, Palacio. Lavezzi, Maxi Rodriguez, Di Maria, and Messi, their attack looked un-containable, the kind that can rain five goals on any opposition, on any given Sunday.

But at the World Cup, the messianic Messi did not really show up. The Albiceleste could hardly score one against Iran. Game after game, they managed to win by a mere one-goal margin. They even had to recourse to the penalty shootout against Holland. Stunningly, their defense, with Romero, Garray and Di Michaelis, was their stronghold, not their attack.

.........
During Sunday's final, the Argentine created illusion for half an hour. Then the individual and collective superiority of the Maanschaft became undeniable. Without Di Maria, it is pure luck that the Albiceleste could keep the game scoreless for 113 minutes. At the end, the dreaded penalty lottery did not happen. The Germans deservedly won their eight World Cup final and their fourth FIFA star on their national jersey.

Gotze, the Dortmund wunderkind transferred last year to Bayern, scored the lonely goal of the game. Messi, isolated, and even more isolated after Higuain's exit, did not do much. He even placed his last free kick in orbit.

The Spanish reign is over. The new king is Germany. Fort the third time in a row, the baton has been passed within the European Union. For the second time in a row, Europe has won outside of Europe. For the first time ever, a European team has won in South America. Rule #2 is no longer. Once again, we have witnessed History.

The future of North and South American football looks promising with the emergence of new competitive nations, such as the US, Costa Rica, and Colombia. But the next two Word Cups will be staged in Eastern Europe (Russia, 2018) and the Middle East (Qatar, 2022). A win at either one, for an American country, looks distant and uncertain. The European Century has started...

The king is dead. Long live with the king. Long live Germany! Bravo!

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(The Traveller, Monday July 14, 2014)