World Cup 2014: How Germany outplayed Messi and everyone else

Lionel Messi is probably the saddest ever Golden Ball winner. The dejection etched on his face was as intense as the elation that was on it a month ago when he curled in a beautiful goal in a tricky match against Bosnia-Hercegovina.

He started the final against Germany with a blazing run down the left, was part of a goalmouth scramble and played a terrific pass to Ezequiel Lavezzi to start off an attack.

But things rapidly went downhill after that.

He missed a chance down the inside left, rolling the ball wide past Manuel Neuer in a situation where you would have ordinarily bet your house on him to score. Destiny teased him with one last chance when he won a free-kick 30 yards from goal, blazing over — it was high, wide and not so handsome.

After the final whistle, it seemed as if the emotional dam building inside him was precariously close to exploding. Even Manuel Neuer, who was standing beside him with the Golden Glove, didn’t push too hard. A cursory acknowledgement, that was it.

Messi knew it, Neuer knew it, every fan in the stadium and around the world knew it — the best player (as voted by the media) had lost and the best team had won.

It’s a cliche to call Germany a machine, but that’s exactly what coach Joachim Loew has made his team.

After three goals against Brazil, Loew stopped celebrating. When Mario Gotze scored in the 112th minute in the final, he just adjusted his hair a bit and rubbed his nose. No celebration, no loss of focus. This has permeated into his team, most evidently in their brilliant goalkeeper (and sweeper) Neuer — who makes stunning saves look routine.

During the final, his high-knee almost broke Gonzalo Higuain’s neck as he came out for a punch. “If he dies, he dies,” popular football statistics website Squawka tweeted out with a video of that save — and that’s exactly how the goalie plays.

And that’s how Germany played at this World Cup. They ruthlessly demolished Portugal 4-0 in their first match before toiling hard for a draw against Ghana and a win over the USA in the group stages. They then broke Algerian hearts with a 2-1 win and saw off a resilient French squad 1-0, before hitting top gear and demolishing Brazil 7-1, not just changing the course of the World Cup, but of a whole nation’s history.

But there was no rubbing it in after that win. The only hype that was generated came from their media.

Even coming into the final, there was no arrogance, no over-confidence, no complacency and no slack. This is a team that simply put, has been built to win.

They have scored 18 goals, matching Brazil’s 2002 record for the most scored by a World Cup winning team. These have come from eight different players. 12 of them have been assisted by seven players.

These 30 goal-scoring situations have seen contributions from 10 players including both wing-backs, their centre-back, defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder, wingers and strikers (Bendict Howedes, Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, Andre Schurrle, Phillip Lahm, Toni Kroos, Thomas Mueller, Mario Gotze, Matts Hummels and Miroslav Klose). In fact they were so good that their first World Cup final goal was assisted and scored by a substitute.

They had the best possession percentage out of all the teams that reached the knockouts, the most passes attempted, the most passes completed, the best overall passing accuracy (10 players in their team have a passing accuracy of 85% or more), the most set-piece goals (6), the best shot accuracy (62% of 99 shots), the most chances created, the most number of key passes, and the most assists — this list can go on but the bottom line is this — Germany were the best team at the World Cup.

As for the best player, Messi has now had three shots at the World Cup — and he’s got closer at every go.

He mesmerised at times with his goals, skills and passes — shocking crowds into silence while enthralling them back home. He was so close that when we remember World Cup 2014 — it will go down as the tournament the best player lost — but the best side deservedly won.

And that is the sport’s ultimate victory.