The Final | Germany v Argentina | Monday 7am

lol

Surprised Ricki voted Messi, actually. Hes always been a big fan of Mueller, having voted for him previously in Ballon d'Or too (or whatever it is). Now this time he gets to see both in the flesh, but votes Messi? Strange.

Did not realise you were privvy to his voting.

Changing tack completely, I assume there was no "win it 3 times and you keep it" rule for this particular WC trophy as there was for the Jules Rimet trophy -  Brazil earning the right to keep it permanently (ha) in 1970.

If that had been the case, we had Germany, Argentina, Italy and Brazil all going into the tournament with 2 wins with the new trophy.  Would have added an extra bit of spice to the final!

The Jules Rimet keep-it-after-3-wins rule was an odd one, so not surprised not replicated.

"At the end of the day you've got what you've got and you choose who you choose." RH

Yes that's how Ricki was voted on to the panel in the first place.

Some nice statistical analyses of all the teams' performances at the World Cup are shown here. You need to remember that the sample size (i.e. games played) is low, nevertheless it makes for interesting reading.

Apologies if this link has been posted elsewhere.

Would of made a bit of sense to let Germany keep the trophy, apparently it's running out of room for enscribing winners.

This sounds like a line from Les Mis

Or Larry David in "Curb Your Enthisiasm"

Or Woody Allen too...

Or both together:

Maradona puts the Golden Ball in a nutshell:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c...

"Argentine World Cup hero Maradona, who won the award in 1986, told pan-Latin American TV channel Telesur that it was a marketing ploy to give the award to Messi.

"Messi? I would give him heaven if possible," Maradona said.

"But it's not right when someone wins something that he shouldn't have won just because of some marketing plan."

Adidas was the sponsor of the award while Messi is one of the main faces of the sportswear company...

Even Sepp Blatter was surprised about Messi winning. But I'm not sure how much we can trust his words.

Mueller said, after asked about not winning the Golden Boot: "I don't care about this shit, I won the world cup, that's important"

Messi must have thought similar, just the other way around.

Mind you, Messi could have handed it back and said, "I sorry but I haven't been up to my usual standards, please give it to..."

Just watched the Goetze goal again.  Admittedly I am a bit German,but that goal is a thing of beauty.  

Sure, De Michellis erred in on not tracking more tightly, but the run to create space (for both Schuerrle and himself) and then skill level required for the chest control then shot across the keeper, wow ... just brilliant.  

Agree. For me the goal of the tournament. That guy did not had the best games before, kicked out of the starting 11. Get told by the coach to win it for them in extra time. 113 min, in a world cup final, spark of his brilliance and technique, he's only 22 years.

Goetze Goal

Was a great goal, but the Argentine defence can take some blame, especially as they had not put a foot wrong throughout the tournament. For me they were the defence of the finals, on par with, or possibly better than the German defence.

OK, accepted, Argentines we a bit more tired at the end, did not win the semi in regular time, had a day less recovry. But the then we also do not count the one on one chance for Higuain, should never happened to Kroos.

At that level the difference is simple: Goetze put the tricky into the net vs Higuain could not even get his sitter on target.

Common knowledge. A list of Ballon d'Or voters gets published. Each fifa member gets 3 votes, national team coach, national team captain, and a media representative. There was a big article about Messi when he won his last one, and in that article it had a bit from Ricki himself, who voted for Mueller.

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/ballond%27or/playeroftheyear%28men%29/02/26/02/68/fboaward_menplayer2013_neutral.pdf

He meant the Golden Ball.

Thought that was extremely obvious.

Ah ok, well someone else said Ricki voted Messi. Wasnt me.

Germany’s Christoph Kramer asked referee: ‘Is this the final?’

“Shortly after the blow, Kramer came to me asking: ‘Ref, is this the final?’” Nicola Rizzoli told the Gazzetta dello Sport on Thursday. “I thought he was joking and made him repeat the question and then he said: ‘I need to know if this is really the final.’ When I said: ‘Yes,’ he concluded: ‘Thanks, it was important to know that.’”

In another article Kramer said that he can not remember of any moment playing in the final.

Some great stuff here:

http://thesunshineroom.com/2014/06/28/world-cup-dr...

The story o the World Cup:

Stuff the World Cup, who won the arm folding comp.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_spot/2014/07/03/world_cup_player_introductions_a_deep_analysis_of_how_soccer_players_fold.html

Benny says LOL!