Brazil 2014: The Final

All of my previous posts during this World Cup have had a theme to them, but for this final post I am choosing to focus solely on the football and specifically tonight's final in Rio between Germany and Argentina, the third time that the two have faced in this fixture. It will be a huge event after all, and I for one can't wait for it to start!

Before the tournament started, my prediction was that Argentina would win the whole thing so I'll be supporting them tonight. They haven't played quite as I expected them to if I'm honest, but they just keep winning and that's all that you need to do. They have the potential to be extremely dangerous going forward with their superstar attackers, and hopefully they will show that against Germany.
Argentina's route to the final has seen them top their group ahead of Bosnia, Nigeria and Iran, before beating Switzerland 1-0 after extra time, Belgium 1-0 and then winning on penalties against Holland in the semi-final after a 0-0 draw. They certainly haven't been tearing teams apart, but with 3 clean sheets in a row it seems others are struggling to break them down. When you don't concede often and have Lionel Messi and co attacking for you,  there is no limit on how far you can go.

How will they line-up? Argentina usually play a 4-2-3-1 formation, as was mentioned in a previous post, so keep an eye out for that. They have changed their personnel throughout but for tonight I expect them to start with the following: Romero; Zabaleta, Garay, Demichelis, Rojo; Mascherano, Biglia; Di Maria, Messi, Lavezzi; Higuain.

The star for them you would expect will be Messi, arguably the best player in the world currently, and for him to lift the trophy as captain would be a fantastic moment. I think that if it did happen, it would be widely suggested that Messi is the greatest ever. The other man that I think will have a big impact on the result is Angel Di Maria, a player I rate very highly and who has had a phenomenal 12 months.

On to Germany, the team who have impressed me the most throughout. The development of the German team has been a lengthy process that is finally providing rewards. Their team look very strong all over and everyone seems to contribute rather than relying on 1 or 2 like other teams seem to. Just look at their semi final result winning 7-1 against a much fancied Brazil, and 4-0 win over Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal side to see how good they are!
Their route to the final has seen them qualify from their group with 7 points (Portugal, USA and Ghana the other teams), before defeating Algeria 2-1 after extra time, France 1-0 and then their magnificent 7-1 win against Brazil to get them into the final. They have scored a quite incredible 17 goals already which shows their attacking ability with goals coming from all over their team, with Miroslav Klose getting the headlines after breaking the record for goals scored in World Cup history with 16 now.

Germany tend to pack their midfield, and with the quality they have you can see why. I think they will play with the same team that started against Brazil in the last match, which would be a 4-5-1as follows: Neuer; Lahm, Hummels, Boateng, Howedes; Schweinsteiger, Khedira, Kroos; Muller, Klose, Ozil.

It is hard to say that Germany have a stand out player really. Toni Kroos and Thomas Muller have been very impressive in this tournament but I think that midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger is going to be very influential tonight if he plays. I will say that I think Argentina can attack the left back area as I feel Germany's left back Howedes (who I'm sure isn't actually a left back) is the weakest part of their team.

I'm predicting 2-2 at the end of 90 minutes, with Argentina going on to win it in extra time. Whatever happens the scenes tonight in Rio are going to be fantastic viewing and will live long in the memory of all.