Tuesday 15 November 2022 14:43, UK
Germany bulldozed their way to a fourth World Cup win, breaking Brazilian hearts, as Spain, England and Italy floundered.
The 2014 World Cup was full of joy, colour and most importantly - goals - as Germany triumphed after their third-place finish four years before.
Unsurprisingly, the Germans topped Group C, thrashing Portugal 4-0 in their opening game before a 2-2 draw with Ghana and a 1-0 victory against the USA. It was the Americans who joined Germany in the knockout stages and were denied a win against Portugal in the second round of group games after Silvestre Varela's 95th-minute equaliser in the 2-2 draw.
Hosts Brazil went into the tournament with the weight of a nation on their shoulders and began well in Group A, with a 3-1 win against Croatia before a goalless draw against Mexico and finishing off with an emphatic 4-1 win against Cameroon. They topped the group on goal difference - two ahead of Mexico.
The 2014 World Cup had a number of shocks, and Group B provided an early exit for reigning champions Spain, who finished in third place. In a replay of the 2010 World Cup final, Vicente Del Bosque's men were thrashed 5-1 by the Netherlands in their opening group game. Their form did not improve as they also lost 2-0 to Chile, before their sole win of the competition against Australia.
The Netherlands cruised through the group, winning all three matches, including a thrilling 3-2 win against Australia and a 2-0 victory against Chile, who ended in second place to join Louis van Gaal's men in the last 16.
Group C included one of the most invigorating teams of the World Cup - Colombia - who not only lit up the tournament with their dancing celebrations. They cruised through the group, winning all three of their games, including a 4-1 win against Japan in the last group fixture. Greece came second, edging out the Ivory Coast by a point, who were knocked out alongside Japan.
The upsets kept coming in Group D - England and Italy fans look away now! Both were knocked out at the group stages, with England failing to win a game. Roy Hodgson's men lost their opening two matches to Italy and Uruguay, with Luis Suarez scoring in the 85th minute to deny England a point before an apathetic goalless draw against Costa Rica.
The Costa Ricans topped the group, followed by Uruguay - with Suarez once again surrounded in controversy during a 1-0 win against Italy. The then-Liverpool striker appeared to bite Giorgio Chiellini on the shoulder although escaped a booking despite the evidence before Diego Godin scored the winning goal a minute later which knocked out the Italians.
Two days later, Suarez received a nine-match international ban ruling him out of the rest of the World Cup, as well as a four-month ban on any football-related activity. A few weeks later, he signed for Barcelona and has been fairly uncontroversial since his move to Spain.
In Group E, France and Switzerland took the top two spots. Their meeting in the group was a thrilling encounter as Didier Deschamps' side surged into a 5-0 lead, but two goals in the last 10 minutes from Blerim Dzemaili and Granit Xhaka made for an entertaining finish. Ecuador and Honduras exited the World Cup at this stage, although Ecuador did hold France to a goalless draw in their final group match.
There were also few surprises in Group F, which was topped by Argentina - who won each of their games - followed by Nigeria. Perhaps the shock of the group was Nigeria's goalless draw with Iran - who finished in last place - in the opening game. Bosnia and Herzegovina were only a point behind Nigeria with the same goal difference, although exited the competition with a 3-1 win against Iran.
Group H saw Belgium top the group after winning all three, and were joined by Algeria in the last 16 ahead of more established international teams in South Korea and 2018 hosts Russia. The Algerians' biggest win of the tournament was a 4-2 win against South Korea in the second round of group games, as well as drawing 1-1 with Russia.
Unfortunately for Algeria, their tournament came to an end with defeat to Germany in the last 16, although Joachim Low's side needed extra time to see off their African opponents after a goalless 90 minutes. They eventually won 2-1, with Abdelmoumene Djabou's late goal not enough to force a comeback and take the game to penalties.
Four of the remaining fixtures went to extra time, with Argentina taking 118 minutes before Angel Di Maria took them past Switzerland while the USA nearly pulled off a shock as they held Belgium to a goalless draw before Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku steered Marc Wilmots' team into the quarters with a 2-1 win.
Both Costa Rica and Brazil needed penalties to secure their spots in the last eight - beating Greece and Chile respectively - with Neymar the hero for the hosts as he netted the decisive spot-kick while Alexis Sanchez, who had scored in the 1-1 draw, missed his for Chile.
Only three games were decided in 90 minutes. James Rodriguez continued his fine form for Colombia as his double beat Uruguay, while France also knocked out Nigeria with a 2-0 win. The Netherlands left it late though, with Wesley Sneijder's 88th-minute strike cancelling out the opener from Mexico's Giovani Dos Santos before Klaas-Jan Huntelaar netted a 94th-minute penalty to send Van Gaal's men into the quarters.
The quarter-finals saw early goals galore, with Mats Hummels' 13th-minute goal seeing Germany beat France and reach the semi-finals for the fourth successive tournament - a World Cup record.
Argentina also netted within eight minutes to see off Belgium 1-0, while Brazil took just seven minutes to get on the scoresheet through Thiago Silva as they knocked out Colombia with a 2-1 win, although it was overshadowed by an injury to superstar Neymar, who would miss the rest of the tournament.
After no goals in 120 minutes, the Netherlands were taken to penalties by Costa Rica and won the shootout 4-3, having scored each of their efforts. It was a second successive World Cup semi-final for the Dutch.
But after penalty success in the quarters, Van Gaal's men fell to Argentina in the semi-finals after another goalless 120 minutes, but the tables were turned when the Dutch could only net two of their penalties as the Argentines converted all of their efforts to win the shootout 4-2.
However, this barely scratched the semi-final surface as hosts Brazil were blown away by a clinical Germany side, losing 7-1 to the eventual champions in Belo Horizonte and shocking the nation. But more on that later!
The collapse without Neymar continued for Brazil as they also lost the third-place play-off against the Netherlands, soundly beaten 3-0 in Brasilia. Overall, Brazil conceded 14 goals in the tournament - the most by a team at any single World Cup since 1986 - and the most by a host nation in history, although their fourth-place finish still represented Brazil's best result in a World Cup since their last win in 2002.
The 2014 World Cup final at the iconic Maracana pitted Germany and Argentina against each other for a record third time after their meetings in 1986 and 1990. After netting six goals in the group stages, Argentina failed to score for a second game in a row as Mario Gotze's 113th-minute goal proved decisive and handed Germany the trophy.
The victory marked the first time that teams from the same continent had won three successive World Cups (alongside Italy and Spain) as well as the first time a European side had won the tournament in the Americas.
The phrase 'leapt like a salmon' was made for this goal, in what is now one of the iconic World Cup moments as Robin van Persie soared towards a drilled long ball from Daley Blind and headed past Iker Casillas to earn the nickname 'the Flying Dutchman'.
He was completely unmarked in the area and scored the equaliser for the Netherlands from 15 yards, with the Dutch going on to win the game 5-1 in the group stages.
There were a number of players who could take the plaudits here. Colombia's Rodriguez won the Golden Boot for his six goals, Neymar gave hope and joy to Brazilians across the country as they embraced the World Cup spirit while any number of the Germany team could be included for their superb run to glory.
But after a disappointing 2010 World Cup with no goals in five games, Messi finally showed what he could do on the world's biggest stage with four goals scored - the third highest of the tournament - and won the official Golden Ball award from FIFA.
If anyone says they saw this result coming, they are telling fibs. Even without star man Neymar, the Brazilians were expecting to make their home final - but Germany had other ideas.
Thomas Muller opened the floodgates in the 11th minute, but it was four goals in six minutes that really wounded Brazil and put Germany out of sight. Miroslav Klose started things off in the 23rd minute before a swift double from Toni Kroos, rounded off with a 29th-minute strike from Sami Khedira.
Andre Schurrle piled on the pain in the second half with another double before Oscar salvaged a sliver of pride for Brazil with his 90th-minute goal. However, it was the ultimate embarrassment for Luiz Felipe Scolari's side with tears from players and fans at the final whistle.
Scolari resigned six days later and said after the game: "It's the worst moment of my football career and the worst day of my football life." Ouch.
England were the only home nation to feature at the World Cup, but many fans may have preferred to stay at home after a disastrous campaign. Many saw England's group with Costa Rica, Uruguay and Italy as winnable, but Roy Hodgson's men did not get close.
England lost 2-1 to Italy in their opening game before another 2-1 defeat to Uruguay in the second round of matches. On both occasions, England had got themselves level after falling behind before conceding the winning goal.
England's fate was already confirmed before the final group game against Costa Rica, and they went out with a whimper in a dull 0-0 draw. It was another disappointing performance on the biggest stage as England notched their 11th goalless draw in World Cup history - more than any other team.
Scotland and Wales were in the same qualification group, with the former ending one point and one place ahead of the Welsh in Group A, although Wales won each meeting 2-1.
Northern Ireland finished second from bottom in Group F, winning just once against Luxembourg and ended just one point ahead of them in the table. The Republic of Ireland finished a respectable fourth place in Group C which included eventual champions Germany, picking up 14 points in the process.
