Germany won the World Cup for the fourth time this summer. Philipp Lahm lifted the trophy 100 days ago after a 1-0 win over Argentina in Rio de Janeiro. DFB.de looks back at the tournament and celebrates the success of the 2014 Germany senior squad.
Gauck: "It’s magnificent"
Joachim Gauck has long been enthralled by the World Cup for all of his life. In 1954 he listened to West Germany’s victory in Bern from his Rostock home. Seventy years later he was in the stands to watch Germany beat Argentina: “It’s marvellous.” He was accompanied by Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Maracanã, who having previously watched Germany in international tournaments from afar, was finally able to witness success first hand: “They have done us all proud. Congratulations.”
Aiming to go one better
Berlin had been the scene of celebrations after excellent performances at World Cup 2006 and the second place finish at 2008. The scenes in the city on those days were unforgettable, but everyone hoped to go one better: to win the tournament and celebrate in the capital. After an exciting tournament, they managed to achieve this. Hundreds of thousands of supporters lined the streets of the city to celebrate with their heroes.
Tournament build-up
The 4-0 victory over Portugal provided a perfect start to the tournament for Germany. A Thomas Müller hat-trick and a goal from Mats Hummels showed the world that they were the team to beat, but things could have been different. The run-up to the tournament was turbulent for Germany: the team were dogged by injuries which threatened to keep out key players. Lars Bender and Marco Reus were ruled out of the squad, but Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira all made it to the tournament. Shortly before the tournament, they were held to a 2-2 draw against Cameroon, but any doubts were swept aside thanks to a 6-1 win over Armenia and the first game of the tournament against Portugal.
Early stages of the tournament
Germany won the World Cup for the fourth time this summer. Philipp Lahm lifted the trophy 100 days ago after a 1-0 win over Argentina in Rio de Janeiro. DFB.de looks back at the tournament and celebrates the success of the 2014 Germany senior squad.
Gauck: "It’s magnificent"
Joachim Gauck has long been enthralled by the World Cup for all of his life. In 1954 he listened to West Germany’s victory in Bern from his Rostock home. Seventy years later he was in the stands to watch Germany beat Argentina: “It’s marvellous.” He was accompanied by Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Maracanã, who having previously watched Germany in international tournaments from afar, was finally able to witness success first hand: “They have done us all proud. Congratulations.”
Aiming to go one better
Berlin had been the scene of celebrations after excellent performances at World Cup 2006 and the second place finish at 2008. The scenes in the city on those days were unforgettable, but everyone hoped to go one better: to win the tournament and celebrate in the capital. After an exciting tournament, they managed to achieve this. Hundreds of thousands of supporters lined the streets of the city to celebrate with their heroes.
Tournament build-up
The 4-0 victory over Portugal provided a perfect start to the tournament for Germany. A Thomas Müller hat-trick and a goal from Mats Hummels showed the world that they were the team to beat, but things could have been different. The run-up to the tournament was turbulent for Germany: the team were dogged by injuries which threatened to keep out key players. Lars Bender and Marco Reus were ruled out of the squad, but Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira all made it to the tournament. Shortly before the tournament, they were held to a 2-2 draw against Cameroon, but any doubts were swept aside thanks to a 6-1 win over Armenia and the first game of the tournament against Portugal.
Early stages of the tournament
Beating Portugal in their opening match sent out a message to the rest of the world that Germany were the team to beat, but their second game in the tournament was more challenging. With less than 20 minutes on the clock in the game against Ghana, Germany found themselves 2-1 down, but managed to level through Miroslav Klose’s 15th World Cup goal, which put him level with Ronaldo as the highest scorer in the history of the tournament. In the final game of the group stage, Thomas Müller’s classy finish saw them beat Jürgen Klinsmann’s USA side to qualify for the knockout stage.
The first knock-out match saw them face Algeria, but once again they struggled to recreate their performance from the opening game. The African side pushed Germany all the way to extra time, where goals from André Schürrle (92’) und Mesut Özil (119’) ensured Germany qualified for the quarter-finals. Algeria grabbed a late consolation goal, but it was too little too late and Löw’s team progressed in a solid, but not spectacular manner.
Progression to the final
Germany visited the Maracanã for the first time in the tournament for the quarter-final against France, which they won 1-0 thanks to Hummels’ early header. This victory set up a mouth-watering clash with host nation Brazil; the prize for winning would be a place in the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final. The match against the Seleção will go down in history as one of the greatest in the history of the tournament. Germany swept aside the hosts, who were missing inspirational forward Neymar, with minimal fuss to clinch a place in the final. Their 7-1 victory saw them qualify for the final for the eighth time and inflict Brazil’s heaviest defeat since 1920. Miroslav Klose’s goal in the match saw him become the highest scorer in World Cup Finals history.
Time to be heroes
Joachim Löw’s side faced Argentina in the Final and seemed relaxed ahead of the game – signing autographs and having pictures with fans. It all boiled down to one match of football on July 13 in Rio. Someone was going to be a hero that night and have their name written in World Cup folklore. After a tense 90 minutes, the game went to extra time and seemed to be heading for a penalty shoot-out, but with seven minutes left on the clock Mario Götze slotted home to score the winner. There were jubilant scenes in the stadium, on the pitch and all over Germany. 100 days on from the game, people have barely stopped celebrating the triumph.
