Germany deservedly won their 4th title in the most thrilling World Cup of recent times. In a World cup which no team dominated, many matches produced excitement& goals, and knockout rounds were close, tense & at times tediously defensive, Germany stood out by defeating no fewer than Portugal & past winners France & Argentina as well as the favourites, the hosts Brazil.
In doing so, Germany controlled all of their 7 matches & only for a brief period vs Ghana looked vulnerable. And by beating the hosts Brazil in a thrilling 7-1 semi finals, Germany will ultimately be remembered as one of the most entertaining winners of all time.
But it is not just their 7-1 thrashing of Brazil which should remembered in this World Cup. Germany continued to set more records and/or improve on their already impressive World Cup standing during this, the 20th FIFA World Cup. Here are some of the records or significant facts about Germany following their win in Brazil 2014:
- Germany have appeared in a record 8 World Cup Finals, one more than Brazil & 2 more than Italy.
- They have reached a record 13 World Cup Semi Finals.
- In those 13 semi finals, they have won the world Cup 4 times, finished second 4 times, third 4 times & fourth once (a record again)
- They have finished in Top 8 in 17 out of the 18 tournaments they have participated in.
- Germany have played a record 106 World Cup matches. Whilst Germany have participated in 18 of the 20 World Cups, this is 2 matches more than Brazil, despite the fact that Brazil have participated in all 20 World Cups.
- Germany are the all time highest scoring team in World Cup history. Following their victory in 2014, they have scored 224 World Cup goals. Brazil are second with 221 goals.
- Miroslav Klose, became the all time leading World Cup goalscorer in Brazil with 16 goals, and one of the only 3 players to have scored in 4 World Cups. He also became the first player to have played in 4 World Cup Semi Finals. He holds the record for most World Cup wins (17), most knockout phase matches played (14) & most World Cup medals (1 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze). Meanwhile Lotthar Matthaus, the 1990 World Cup winning Germany Captain holds the record for most World Cup matches played (25 in a joint record 5 World Cup tournaments)
- Germany are the only country to have won the FIFA World Cup Trophy 3 times (1974,1990, 2014), the trophy which replaced the original Jules Rimes Cup which Brazil won 3 times (and kept following their 3rd win 1970 World Cup)
- Since readmitted to FIFA following their ban from the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, Germany have participated in all 16 World Cup finals & have progressed to the 2nd round in all their 16 attempts (a record)
- Germany hold the record for the highest scoring Champions (25 goals in 1954) & joint record for highest goal difference achieved by a Championship winning team with Brazil (+14, 2014)
- Germany hold the record for Most Consecutive Top Scoring Team, having scored the most goals in 2006, 2010 & 2014 World Cup Finals.
- Fastest brace ever scored in World Cup history is 69 seconds when Germany's Tony Kroos scored twice in the 7-1 vs Brazil in 2014. The 7-1 incidentally is the highest all time semi final score.
- Germany's Franz Beckenbauer remains the only person who has won the World Cup both as a Captain (1974) & as a coach (1990), AND has lost World Cup finals both as a player (1966) and as a coach (1986)!
- No other coach has coached more games (25) & won more games (17) than Germany's 1970 World Cup winning coach Helmut Schon.
- Germany are the only team to have a 100% win record in their World Cup penalty shootouts! (4/4)
All in all, Germany are most notable & impressive tournament team of all time, considering their 6 European Championship final appearances on top of their 8 World Cup finals!
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