2014 World Cup

By D. Westphalen

The 2014 FIFA World Cup, hosted by Brazil occurred from the 14th of June, to the 13th of July, after the nation was chosen in 2007 to host the event. It was the second time Brazil hosted the tournament, having staged it in 1950, when Uruguay won their second title. 31 teams were invited to the competition, alongside the host, Brazil. The teams were separated into 8 groups, with each group having two teams classified to the Round of 16, to begin the elimination rounds. Spain, the reigning champions, England and Italy were some of the favorites to win the tournament, but none of them made the Round of 16.
 
In the Round of 16, 8 games were played in 8 different stadiums in Brazil. Some notable eliminations were that of Uruguay and Mexico, losing to Colombia and the Netherlands respectively. Other teams, like Brazil and Argentina had hard fought games, having won in overtime and penalty shootouts. In the quarter finals, both Belgium and France lost 1x0 against Argentina and France in close games. Netherlands, although dominating Costa Rica for the whole game, had to go into the penalty shootouts to advance to the semifinals. Even though the Brazilian team was able to easily win against Colombia, a devastating injury affected the team. Neymar Jr, Brazil’s star player, had been injured by Camilo Zuniga, and wouldn’t be able to play for the rest of the tournament. Along with this, Brazil’s team captain, Thiago Silva, had received his second yellow card, and was suspended for the next game. All these events proved to be detrimental to the Brazilian national team, as they faced the powerful German team in the semi-final.
 
In the semi-finals, Argentina and the Netherlands played a head-to-head game in São Paulo. The game ultimately went to a penalty shootout, where the Dutch team fell 2 x 4. Differently to this game, the other semi-final between Germany and Brazil was a one-sided affair, with the Germany team winning 7x1. The game was practically over from the minute it started, with the German team already leading 5x0 29 minutes in, including 4 goals scored in a span of 6 minutes (Klose 23’, Kroos 24’, Kroos 26’ & Khedira 29’). The injury plagued Brazilian team had no way of stopping the German team and scoring on their excellent goalie, Manuel Neuer. During halftime, when Germany was already leading by five goals, the German players made a pledge to not humiliate their opponents in their own country; some rumors even say the players asked Neuer to let them score a goal. All of this didn’t really matter, as Germany scored two more goals in the second half, ending the game with a devastating 7x1. This game lives in infamy to all Brazilians and the words “sete a um” can trigger the whole nation. Two years later, Brazil would go on to get their revenge, by beating Germany during the finals of the Olympics, once again being hosted in Brazil. After being eliminated, Brazil lost once again, this time to the Netherlands in the third-place play-off.
 
The final was set, Argentina vs Germany for a chance to be remembered in history. The game was played in the famous Maracanã stadium in Rio and over 75,000 people were in attendance, many of which were Brazilians, who were still heartbroken from their previous losses. Although this, most of the Brazilians there cheered for Germany, fueled by their hatred and feud with Argentina. Argentina, led by Lionel Messi battled a close game against the now favorite German team. By the end of regulation, the score was 0x0, and both teams were far from scoring any goals. The score remained pointless for a long time, with each team having few shots on goal, until the 113rd minute when Mario Götze scored a beautiful header to give the German team the lead. Shortly after his goal, the game ended and became champions for the fourth time and became the second European team to win a championship outside of Europe. Germany’s goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer won the Best Goalkeeper award, whilst Argentine forward, Lionel Messi was named the Best Player of the tournament.
 
Final Positions:
1st – 🇩🇪Germany (4th Title) 
2nd – 🇦🇷Argentina
3rd – 🇳🇱Netherlands
4th – 🇧🇷Brazil
 
Awards:
Top Scorer – James Rodriguez
Best Player – Lionel Messi
Best Young Player – Paul Pogba
Best Goalkeeper – Manuel Neuer
Fair Play Award - Colombia