Monirul Haque: Mario Goetze scored a
superb extra-time winner as Germany beat Argentina 1-0 to become the
first European team to win a World Cup held in South America on Sunday.
Bayern
Munich star Goetze struck in the 113th minute to finally break
Argentina's resistance as Lionel Messi's dream of emulating Diego
Maradona ended in defeat. 
The World Cup
ends Sunday with a marquee match-up, Argentina against Germany, and
host Brazil rushing to be ready for an even bigger logistical challenge:
the 2016 Olympics.
As the winning captain, either Argentina forward Lionel Messi
or Germany defender Philipp Lahm will hold aloft the most recognized
trophy in sports in front of 74,000 spectators at the Maracana Stadium,
the world-famous football venue nestled among Rio de Janeiro's hills,
high-rises and favelas.
Even Pope Francis is keeping an eye from the Vatican. The
Argentine-born, football-loving pontiff pledged neutrality, promising
not to pray for any team. However, Francis did tweet on the eve of the
final: ''The World Cup allowed people from different countries and religions to come together.''
It also showcased Brazil, good sides and bad. With $13 billion in
spending, last-minute scrambling and what Brazilians call ''jeitinho,''
their famous ability to improvise solutions, South America's largest
country pulled together a tournament across 12 far-flung host cities.
That was encouraging for Olympic officials concerned that Rio is
slipping with preparations for the 2016 Games. Visiting Rio and its
Olympic village-to-be, International Olympic Committee President Thomas
Bach praised Brazilians' ''passion and efficiency'' and their first World Cup in 64 years.
The 32-day tournament will be remembered for terrific football and
because it went so smoothly, with no logistical disasters for the 32
teams and hundreds of thousands of traveling fans. There also was no
repeat of giant public protests that unsettled last year's warm-up
tournament, the Confederations Cup.
However, the overwhelmingly white and seemingly well-off stadium crowds
reflected Brazil's stark economic inequalities. This was a World Cup that Brazil's black and mixed-race poorer citizens mostly saw from afar on television.
Broken promises of new subway lines and other life-improving infrastructure to accompany the 12 all-new or renovated World Cup
arenas reflected poorly on Brazil's bureaucracy, as did accusations
that corrupt public servants skimmed off funds. An unfinished overpass
collapsed, killing two people, in the host city of Belo Horizonte where,
days later, Germany humiliated Brazil, drawing floods of tears across
this nation of 200 million people.
Brazilians will long rue that historic 7-1 loss in the semifinals and
think the humiliation might have been avoided had a back injury not
robbed them of Neymar, Brazil's best player. Compounding their regret,
Brazil also lost 3-0 to the Netherlands in Saturday's match for third
place.
Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff, and FIFA president Sepp Blatter
will together present the trophy to the winners. It isn't, in fact, a
cup but an 18-carat gold sculpture of two athletes, with arms raised,
holding the Earth. At 6.1 kilograms (13.6 pounds), it is heavier than a
newborn baby. FIFA engraves the name of the winners on the base of the
trophy but doesn't let them keep it, instead giving them a gold-plated
replica.
Such is the intensity of their footballing rivalry with Argentina that many Brazilians will pray Germany wins its fourth World Cup and first since 1990.
''It is absurd for Brazilians to root for Argentina. This cannot be,'' said Renata Braga, a fan in Rio.
Germany's slick, attacking, disciplined football made it arguably the
most entertaining team in Brazil. With 17 goals before the final, it was
the highest scorer.
Argentina wasn't as flashy but rode the genius of Messi, the four-time world player of the year having his best World Cup .
If the finalists score two more between them Sunday, this World Cup will have produced more goals than any of its 19 predecessors.
Victory for Argentina would take its total of titles to three, still two short of Brazil's record five.
A first World Cup
win for Messi would add fuel to incessant arguments between the South
American neighbors about whether he and Diego Maradona, Argentina's
captain when it last won in 1986, are worthy equals to Pele, the only
player to win three World Cup s.
Argentine fans descended on Rio, singing Brazil-taunting songs. Since they can't celebrate a World Cup win, second-best for Brazilians would be their neighbors going home disappointed.