Rio de Janeiro, July 14:Germany became the first European team to win the Fifa World Cup on the South American soil when they beat Argentina 1-0 in the final at the Maracana Stadium here on Sunday.

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The last time the Germans lifted the World Cup trophy was in 1990 when they beat Diego Maradona's Argentina by the same score line in Rome in Italy.

The match at Maracana was in fact the third final between the two teams. Argentina won the 1986 final 3-2.

Coming back to the latest final, the two teams, both of which have a strong defence, were tied at 0-0 till the 113th minute when Mario Goetze, who took the field as a substitute of veteran Miroslav Klose in the dying moments of the regulation time, broke the deadlock in the 113th minute.

Andre Schurrle made inroads from the left and lofted a neat pass across towards the post. Goetze received it brilliantly on his chest and netted the winner.

This was the third World Cup final in a row which had gone into the extra-time. In 2006, Italy defeated France on penalties after the match was tied 1-1 in the regulation time while in 2010, Spain scored the winner against the Netherlands in the 117th minute to win their first title.

Argentina came very close to scoring in the opening minutes of the match but failed to convert. Higuain missed a one-to-one and also saw a goal which was cancelled to be an offside one. Lionel Messi also made some sharp moves near the German goal but couldn't find the finishing touch.
For the Germans, a header from Benedikt Howedes hit the post in the first half.

Germany became the first European team to win a WC on the American soil

The second half saw a more tight performance with both sides reducing their pace of the game. Germany were a bit better, thanks to the Argentines' lapses, and were near a lead but for Sergio Romero's excellent saves. Argentina particularly missed the service of Angel Di Maria, who was ruled out with a thigh injury after the quarterfinal game against Belgium.

Germans also missed midfielder Sami Khedira who sustained an injury during a warm-up sessions. He was replaced by Christoph Kramer but he, too, suffered a head injury and left the pitch after half-an-hour.

Oneindia News

[With IANS inputs]