One thing is certain: the World Cup, the Copa das Copas as the Brazilians called it, will not have been the World Cup of stars. Just a taste of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar well but then injured, James Rodriguez eliminated prematurely to remain in history and the award for best player awarded to a barely sufficient Messi, as well as enhancing the value of Germany as a team even before in singles, is confirmation of this. Just as it is confirmed by seeing among the protagonists of the final four players from medium-sized Italian teams such as Lazio's Miroslav Klose and Lucas Biglia and the Sampdorians Shkodran Mustafi (on the bench but already a starter during the competition) and Sergio Romero, hero of the semi-final against the Netherlands but whom the Ligurian club are struggling to place.
La Pulga on the other hand, who at this point definitively says goodbye to the combination with Maradona (and on social media one of the catchphrases is mercilessly this), is the author of a tournament that is not as bad as many say but not excellent either. However, his is to be appreciated dignity in collecting a mocking and undeserved prize and in accepting defeat: no tears, no drama of circumstance. Learn from him Neymar, who became a martyr to his country for having suffered a normal foul play, with tears still pouring down and an immoderate solidarity that has turned into media violence and anti-sportsmanship against Zuniga and beyond.
Tears, like those of the Brazilian people humiliated at home with a result that – yes – will remain in the annals for a long time, perhaps forever. The image of the World Cup is not Goetze's goal and not even the sensational mistakes of Higuain and Palacio but that 7-1 which brought down the curtain on what was supposed to be the sixth Cup, to be won at home 64 years after the Maracanaço consecrating Brazil as the homeland of football.
Instead the demonstration, which is already a half flop between protests, too much money spent, fatal accidents at work and delays in infrastructure, sanctions the crisis of a movement, unable even to get up in the third place final and forced in the final to cheer for their executioners in order not to be mocked by the hated Argentines. “We were returning from overtime while they were from the carnival. And I'm talking about carnival because they had the courage to cheer for whoever gave them seven goals. We lost the final by conceding a goal, but they will never forget the seven baby food they received”: the synthesis is by Diego Armando Maradona, not by chance.
After all, while from Argentina it can be said that he only had Messi, from Brazil not even that: Neymar has scored many goals but temperamentally isn't ready yet, and his teammates certainly didn't make the so mistreated Perez and Biglia blush with envy. Not even champions Germany have any cover men, but they're a real team and there's hardly a position in which they don't have a competitive player. The Teutonic triumph, as well as on the vaunted multi-ethnicity, is based on a programming that starts from far away: The Loew era begins on the rubble of the great disappointment of 2006, when – after losing the 2002 final – Germany failed to win their home World Cup.
Since then another semifinal in 2010 and then a lot of patience and foresight, to get to a success that can be said to be anything but improvised. Will Brazil, which some define as the father of football (the mother would be England…), know how to start again in the same way? Or, in the era of social networks and completely and immediately, when marketing constantly needs phenomena to be placed on the cover, will it be forced to churn out many talents to offer to the European market, thus penalizing the national championship and the entire movement?
Speaking of business, the winner is German on that front as well: Adidas, which dominates the world sports equipment market with a 36% share of sales (Nike has 34%) and which has been the official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup since 1930, grabbed the entire final. There hadn't been a single sponsor in the final since 1990, it was Adidas and the final coincidentally saw the same teams on the pitch.
Yet Nike had launched a ruthless competition, securing more national teams (10 against 9), offering a record sum (42 million) to steal France from their rivals after more than 40 years and appearing on Neymar's feet and on the shirts of the entire boss team. home. Adidas on the other hand fit James Rodriguez and Thomas Muller and took home the final with an investment of "just" 34 million (26 for Germany, 8 for Argentina), which according to experts will bring a profit of over two billion euros to the coffers of the brand of the three bands. Uber Alles Deutschland.
