The World Cup is over and it was a good day for the Gooners as Germany beat an Argentina side who blew their chances in a big way.
Mario Gotze’s goal was brilliant, more than worthy of winning the final in a tournament that has been so entertaining, but there’ll be Argentine players who will have nightmares for the rest of their lives about the opportunities they missed.
Gonzalo Higuain, much sought after in this parish last summer, was the most guilty in the first half. Latching on to a loose back-header from Toni Kroos. With just the keeper to beat he shanked his shot wide. “You know what?”, said Mark Lawrenson on the BBC. “If anything he’s hit that too hard.”
Which was quite a stupid thing to say because, in reality, he’d actually hit it too wide. The Napoli man had the ball in the net a few minutes later and he celebrated with gusto despite, I’m sure, knowing full well he was miles offside. The timing of his run was bad, and it was another chance gone begging.
Germany hit the post late in the half and despite the fact it was 0-0 it had been a thoroughly enjoyable 45 minutes. I thought the second period was just as good even though we didn’t get any goals. Messi fired a shot inches wide after a quite brilliant first touch, the kind of position from which we’ve seen him score for Barcelona countless times, while at the other end the German finishing left a lot to be desired.
Mesut Ozil set up Kroos for the second time in the match but like his first half effort, it was tame and easy for the goalkeeper. We went to extra-time, Germany put on Gotze, but Argentina had another fantastic opportunity to go ahead when the exhausted Hummels misjudged a header, allowing Palacio a clear sight of goal. However, his first touch was appalling, chesting it too far in front of him and his attempt to lob the keeper was woeful. On the biggest stage his football was as bad as his rat-tail hair.
And how Gotze punished them, showing them exactly how it should be done. Schurrle’s energetic run down the left saw him cross to the Bayern Munich man. He killed the ball perfectly on his chest and volleyed home with his left foot to score the goal to win the final. That’s the difference. Argentina blew their chances, but when it really mattered Germany had the quality to take theirs.
Perhaps, on the night, you could argue that because of the chances they had, Argentina were slightly better, but I don’t think there can be any arguments that Germany were the best team at this World Cup and as such worthy winners. I also thought it fitting that we got a final that matched the overall feel of this tournament.
People might look at the 1-0 and think it wasn’t a game to remember, but I genuinely think it was one of the best games of this World Cup. It seems silly to even talk about the commitment of the players given it was the World Cup final, but as someone who enjoys the defensive side of the game as much as the attacking, watching these guys work so hard was brilliant.
Mascherano and Zabaleta for Argentina were amazing; Boateng had a stormer at centre-half (even if I love the Per), while Schweinsteiger’s bloody face summed up the battle he went through in the centre of the park. Some of the tackling was outstandingly good, Germany preventing Argentina breaks as they looked to win it in extra-time; Argentina’s reading of the game preventing the Germans from finding the spaces they love to exploit. Something of a masterclass in that regard, and it’s great to see it when too often the merits of a game are based on what the flair players do at the other end.
As for our boys: I thought Ozil had a really good game in the circumstances, creating two fantastic chances as I mentioned, but he really put in a shift too. In the 118.5 minutes he was on he covered 14.132km and his heatmap shows how much ground he covered all over the pitch. Per got on in the final couple of minutes of extra-time and won a big header with his first touch, and although Podolski didn’t get on the pitch during the game he was practically first on it afterwards, leading the celebrations in typical style.
I did feel sorry for Argentina a bit but when you squander opportunities like they did, chances are you’re going to get punished. And from a purely selfish Arsenal point of view, I think it’s massive that our lads are coming back from this as World Cup winners. You looked at some of the Argentine players afterwards and you could see just how broken they were – it’s going to take them some time to recover from that, physically and mentally.
Our boys will now go away on their holidays after a long, gruelling tournament but they won’t feel anywhere near as tired as they would if they’d lost. We’ve got three World Champions in the squad and we all know the confidence and belief that will instill in them can only be a good for us.
Let’s hope they rest up well though, the new season begins in a little over a month and coming back for pre-season and being somewhat behind the rest in terms of their preparation means they’re likely to miss a few games at the start of the new campaign. That’s something we’ll have to prepare for until they’re up to speed, but for today, congratulations to them and to Germany.
So, it’s all over and overall it’s been a brilliant World Cup. Lots of great games, fine goals, stirring moments and everything else, although I do have to question how Messi won the Golden Ball (he looked suitably sheepish about the whole thing), and why FIFA insisted on having that pointless ceremony for individual awards ahead of giving the World Cup to the team that had just won it.
I thought they dragged it out too long and it was unfair on Messi, and the rest of the Argentina team, that make them wait around that long after the final whistle. As others have pointed out, as brilliant as Messi is (and I can’t even believe there’s debate about whether or not he’s a great player because he hasn’t won the World Cup), he wasn’t even the best player in the Argentina team, let alone the whole tournament, but marketing marketing marketing PR etc etc.
Anyway, it’s done and dusted and we can now get on with the usual summer fare. The spotlight will turn back to Arsenal and what we’ve got to do to get ready for a new season, which really isn’t that far away now.
Till tomorrow.
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ps – the winner of the Chisel and Mouse competition is David Marshall. Well done to you, I’ll be in touch.
