World Cup Final Result: Germany Defeats Argentina in a Dramatic Match

In a World Cup full of upsets, two of the world's greatest football teams fought bravely, but it was Neuer's Germany that walked away from São Paulo's Maracana Stadium with the 2014 FIFA World Cup title. Mario Goetz, who entered for Klose in the 88th minute scored the winning goal in extra time at the 113th minute. Goetz trapped the ball on his chest before side-volleying the ball passed Sergio Romero, the Argentinian keeper. The goal was beautiful, but left the fans in light blue and white speechless and gasping.

In a game that had fans on the edge of their seats from the first whistle, there were relatively few shots, no goals in regular time, and almost perfectly even ball possession.

The first half was relatively uneventful until the 20th minute when Argentina lost a perfect opportunity to score. Gonzalo Higuain, the Argentinian striker, panicked and missed the chance to play off a well-placed header from teammate Toni Kroos. At minutes 29 and 33, Germany was given back-to-back yellows to Bastian Schweinsteiger and Benedikt Howedes respectively.

Argentina started hot in the second half with shoots from Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain in the second the half (although Higuain was called offside). Just as Germany received back-to-back yellow's in the first half, Argentina followed suit with yellows given to Javier Mascherano and Sergio Agüero in '64 and '65, both for missed slide tackles. The game grew physically rougher in the second half as the players in 120 degree heat began to show visible signs of weariness, losing accuracy in passes and tackles. However, defenses remained sharp and no goals were allowed in second half.

The game continued into extra time, where the players battled the brutal heat, but clearly playing defense, trying to conserve what little energy they had for an opportune moment. At minute 109 Germany's Schweinsteiger was elbowed hard by Sergio Agüero but the official missed the call. Though his face was bleeding from the impact, Schweinsteiger stayed in the game.

During the second half of extra time, it appeared likely the game would resort to penalty kicks. That is until Germany's substitute-turned-hero, Gotze, received a pass from teammate, André Schürrle. Gotze settled the pass on his chest before launching a volley across the goal-line and into the back-right corner of net.

German fans exploded following the goal, but there were still nearly ten minutes to play. Although Argentina had a couple of chances, Germany maintained control for the remainder of the game.

It was just nine minutes later, after two minutes of additional time, when the official blew the final whistle. Germany won the 2014 World Cup Final.