Nothing is guaranteed in the beautiful game
The world of football is still trying to come to terms with what happened in Belo Horizonte, Brazil when the hosts suffered one of the most sensational humiliations in World Cup history at the hands of a hyper-efficient German side. A six-minute blitzkrieg within which four goals were scored meant the semi-final was over with a full hour left to play. The shock on the faces both sets of players was palpable.
It must be said that what was really shocking was the margin and its manner of coming into being because the result was predicted by many pundits who felt La Selecao were even fortunate to reach as far as they did. Even then, however, no one could have seen it becoming so easy for the Germans. We all expected a proper football match where both teams would be competing for a place in the final.
A lot has been made of the fact that the hosts were missing their two main players in suspended captain Thiago Silva and talisman Neymar. We will never know what would have happened if the duo had featured, but I cannot see how their presence could have affected the result. I still feel there was only a chance of making the margin more respectable because Joachim Loew’s men were simply irresistible on the night.
Emphasis has to be put on the fact that this was only one game and what happened on Tuesday night does not have any direct impact on what happens tomorrow night in the finals at the iconic Maracana Stadium. I am saying this because there are those who are so simplistic as to readily give the trophy to the Germans owing to that performance. Anyone who has watched football will know that it can never be so straightforward.
The nature of the beautiful game is such that the same sets of players meeting on the same pitch but on a different day would produce a different result and I can almost guarantee that the Germans would have found it tougher if they had played either of the teams in the other semi-final because they have both proven to be more organised and disciplined than the shambles that were Brazil.
Germany’s opponents in tomorrow’s final have not been scoring many goals in this World Cup, but they have not been conceding many either. Prior to the semi-final, they had won all their five matches with one-goal margins. One could say they had an easier road to get there, but you only beat what is in front of you and, as Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie found out the other day, they can stifle potent striking forces.
The two finalists have met twice at this stage of the World Cup before, with Diego Maradona leading the Argentinians to victory in 1986 and the Lothar Mathaus-skippered Germans getting even in the following edition. While retaining my hope that Lionel Messi can claim the only honour to have eluded him so far, I fully expect a tight affair which can go either way, but whoever wins will have deserved it.
