Germany's World Cup triumph: A lesson in patience and persistence

Germany’s triumph at the World Cup is just reward for their patience and persistence

Argentina’s dreams of lifting its 3rd World Cup title were dashed by Germany as the European nation won the finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup 1-0 with a goal from Mario Gotze in the 113th minute. This was the 3rd time in the last 3 World Cups that they were defeated by Germany. Much like their World Cup clash in Berlin eight years ago, the game at the Estadio Marcana appeared to be heading for penalties when the Germans got the important goal.

With this defeat, Messi’s dream of cementing his place alongside Diego Maradona in the list of all-time greats of the game might have suffered a major setback but the four-time Ballon D’or winner can take solace in the fact that he managed to walk out of tournament with the Golden Ball Award.

The final in Rio was a tight game which went beyond normal time, just like the previous two World Cup finals. The fact that it happened for the third consecutive time shows that teams prefer to be on the defensive and play cautiously at the grandest stage. As unified Germany celebrated its first World Cup triumph, they also bid farewell to Miroslav Klose, the all-time leading goal scorer in World Cup history.

Persisting with a highly talented squad

Though Klose failed to improve upon his record tally by scoring in the Finals, he managed to fulfil the dream of winning the World Cup. He was the sole survivor from the squad that finished runners-up to Brazil in 2002. His teammate Thomas Muller, who had a fabulous World Cup and now has in total 10 goals at football’s biggest festival has shown that he can score goals regularly for Germany. There could not have been a better way for Klose to bow out than at a time when Thomas Muller looks ready to take on the mantle of being the goalscorer.

As Lahm lifted the Cup to conclude what had been a good World Cup for himself personally, another significant player besides the German skipper attained immortality in the history of German football. A bloodied Bastian Schweinsteiger, who was the victim of multiple strong challenges from the opposition, valiantly returned to the pitch to complete the match after being hit in the face by Argentina’s Sergio Aguero. The resilience showed by the Bayern Munich midfielder will be remembered for many years to come.

Germany’s victory in Brazil has proved that football matches are won by organized teams functioning as a single unit and not by means of individual brilliance. Mario Gotze’s goal proved that sometimes a fairytale ending is in store and if there was any team that deserved to win it, it was Germany, and it was because they played as a team. While inspiring individuals do lift the morale and spirit of the entire squad, teams which are over-dependent on one individual to perform, no matter how talented that player might be, are bound to falter at one stage or the other.

Patience and trust in the system

Another lesson to be learnt from Germany’s victory is that of patience. If you want great results then you have to invest heavily and this investment might not necessarily be in terms of money. The best results are achieved when people are given ample time to perform.

Despite his repeated failures in the final stages of several tournaments, Germany’s Joachim Low was given the time and opportunity to nurture a young side and the hard-work which he put in with the German squad has definitely paid off eight years after he took over the reins of the team from Jurgen Klinsmann. Low’s rise in world football to the status of a World Cup winning coach is a lesson for all those soccer selectors who axe coaches instantly following defeats in big tournaments.

The key to success lies not in incessantly changing coaches presiding over teams and pinning the entire blame on their shoulders but by providing them with due time to achieve what only special ones do.

It’s a team game, but an entire nation wins. #allin pic.twitter.com/6YPe0Ph9qL

— adidasfootball (@adidasfootball) July 13, 2014

Summary

In the end, we can only say that the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil has been one truly entertaining tournament. The beauty of this World Cup lay in the fact that despite being a high goal scoring tournament, it produced a number of exceptionally close contests specially the ones played in the Round of 16 wherein the best emerged victorious as visible from the fact that all the eight group stage toppers made it to the final eight.

By winning this tournament, Germany has added to its claims of being an emerging superpower which is wielding its clout in every arena, be it diplomacy, development or soccer.