Germany: The Machine That Never Breaks

# Germany: The Machine That Never Breaks

July 13, 2014. Maracana. Extra time. 113th minute. Mario Gotze controlled a cross on his chest and volleyed with his left foot. 1-0. Germany's fourth World Cup.

Four titles, four different Germanys. 1954: the Miracle of Bern — West Germany came from 2-0 down to beat the unbeatable Hungary 3-2 in the rain, wearing Adi Dassler's revolutionary screw-in studs. 1974: hosts, down 1-0 to Cruyff's Netherlands in the first minute, came back to win 2-1 with Gerd Muller's winner. 1990: a newly unified Germany beat Argentina 1-0 via Brehme's 85th-minute penalty. Beckenbauer became the first to win as both captain and coach. 2014: Gotze's chest-and-volley.

But Germany's real record isn't four titles. It's eight finals. Eight times in twelve tournaments they reached the last match. No other nation comes close. In a Munich beer hall, an old fan told me which loss hurt most: 1966. Wembley. Geoff Hurst's ghost goal. Fifty-eight years later, still thinking about it. Then he said: Maybe that goal had to count. Because without that loss, 1974 — at home, against Cruyff — wouldn't have been so sweet. Every German title grew from a wound.