Messi vs. the best German team in rescent history

Photo: AP

I don’t think many of us would have predicted a Final between Germany and Argentina. In the beginning of the tournament with so many great teams like: Spain, Brazil, Italy, England, France, Netherlands, it looked like it could have been any of these teams.

Germany was without a doubt the most solid team in this World Cup. They reached the final very comfortably and never seemed to be struggling in any of their games. They kept their eyes on the big prize and seem more determined than ever to take home the trophy. A win against Argentina will solidify their status in the world of soccer and prove once more that this team was truly put together in such a way that will make life miserable for their opponents. Their team is very well balanced in all parts of the field. Their offense is fearless with a very solid midfield and an impressive defense. They simple don’t seem to have any weak parts as a whole.

On the other hand we have Argentina who at times struggled in this competition but landed to the Final with a little bit of luck in the penalties against Netherlands. It also helped to have Messi in their squad because his goals were crucial when it was mostly needed.

Messi has an undisputed track record and the ability to finish the games all by himself. My biggest concern is that Messi had a decline in his form from the last season with Barcelona and against Netherlands we hardly saw him. He was easily marked by the Dutch defense and didn’t cause many problems for them. We are not used to seeing Messi successfully marked by just one defender and that does bring some concerns for the Argentina coach.

Wining the World Cup trophy means to Messi more than anything else. It’s the missing trophy in his cabinet and it would truly solidify his spot in history by ranking him as the best player to have ever played the game. Being the best of the best means that you have to win everything that could be won and the World Cup trophy is the only thing he couldn’t win with Barcelona.

If this is going to be Messi’s World Cup will remain to be seen, but Germany certainly will enter the Final as favorites. If they successfully stop Messi and they do have the “tools” to do it, they will be just 90 minutes away from reaching their goal.

It’s worth mentioning that the World Cup is the largest global sporting event in the world and it generates more interest world wide than Super Bowl , Olympics and Tour de France combined. There will be more than a billion people watching the Final and if you are not watching the game live in Brazil, you better have a big ass TV at home because you don’t want to miss any second of it.

Hekuran Latifi
Editor-in-Chief,
Inside Sport Center
Jul 13, 2014