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Germany Wins 2014 FIFA World Cup

 

The 2014 football World Cup ended in Brazil with a German victory over Argentina in the final match. The tournament was played in several stadiums across Brazil and attracted media attention from around the world. Brazil hosted the World Cup for the first time since 1950, where they lost in the final game to Uruguay.

The tournament had many surprises. In the group stage, former World Champions Italy and England failed to qualify. Defending World Cup holder Spain was eliminated after two opening defeats to the Netherlands and Chile. Host country and World Cup favourite Brazil disappointed many fans. They did not play as well as they had in the 2013 Confederations Cup. After average performances in the group stage, the “selecao” lost their wunderkind Neymar after a foul by a Columbian defender in the quarterfinals. In the semi-finals, they Germany rolled over the Brazilians 7-1. Three days later the hosts lost third place to the Netherlands 0-3.

 


Costa Rica won their group and eliminated Greece in the first knock-out round. In the quarterfinals, they lost to the Netherlands in a breath-taking penalty shoot-out and had to leave Brazil without losing a match.


A few scandals accompanied the tournament. The biggest one happened when Uruguay’s striker Luis Suarez bit the shoulder of Italian defender Chiellini. After examining video footage, FIFA banned Suarez for the rest of the tournament and for a further four months. Referees were also criticized after making several wrong decisions.


 

The 2014 FIFA World Cup saw the introduction of a new goal-line technology. However, it was only needed once. For the first time FIFA allowed referees to call out breaks during the game in which players could drink, due to the high temperatures and humidity.

In the end, Germany proved to be the most stable team of the tournament. After crushing Portugal 4:0 in the opening game, the Germans went on to win their group. In the knockout phase, they had many problems with underdog Algeria but won after extra time. Victories against France and Brazil gave the Germans their eighth final in football history. Argentina was a tough match in a fairly even game. Mario Götze scored the only goal in the 113th minute of the final, giving Germany the fourth World Cup in history.

The Europeans arguably had the best team in the World Cup. Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was the centrepiece of German defence. Even without an outstanding superstar, like Brazil’s Neymar or Argentina’s Messi, a good mixture of offensive and defensive players allowed the Germans to vary the speed of the game. In the end, the substitutes made the difference and won matches for Germany.

 

 

 

Related Topics

 

Words

  • accompany =go with
  • arguably = perhaps, maybe
  • attention = interest
  • attract = get
  • average = here: not very good
  • ban = not allow to play
  • break = pause
  • breath-taking = very thrilling , exciting
  • centrepiece = heart
  • crush = here: defeat a team, without giving them a chance
  • defeat = lose against
  • defender = player who tries to stop the other team from scoring goals
  • defending = here: the team that won the last World Cup
  • disappointed = sad, not satisfied
  • due to = because of
  • eliminate = throw out of the tournament
  • even = equal
  • examine = look at carefully
  • extra time = 30 minutes added to the end of a football game if there is not a winner after the regular game is over
  • fail = not succeed
  • footage = material, film
  • former = in the past
  • goal-line technology = machine that can decide if the ball is over the goal-line or not
  • group stage = the first part of the tournament, in which the 32 teams are divided into eight groups and play against each other
  • host = here: the organizing country
  • however = but
  • humidity = wetness in the air
  • knock-out round = part of the tournament in which the losing team cannot play on
  • match = game
  • mixture = mix
  • offensive = players that try to score a goal
  • quarterfinals = the round of the last eight teams in a tournament
  • referee = person who makes sure that the rules of the game are followed
  • score = to make a goal
  • selecao = another name for the Brazilian football team
  • several = many
  • shoot-out = when there is no winner after extra time, a series of five penalties decides who wins the game
  • shoulder = one of the two parts of the body at each side of the neck where the arm is connected
  • stable =balanced ; without changing very much
  • substitute = to replace a player with another one
  • tough =hard ,difficult
  • tournament = event in which players or teams  compete against each other in a series of games until there is one winner
  • underdog = a team that does not belong to the favourites
  • very = change
  • victory = to win a game against another team