GERMANY MAKES ARGENTINEANS CRY, TOO!

See? I told you that Messi guy was no good. You give him the broad side of a barn and he MIGHT hit it, but apparently not with a bunch of Germans standing anywhere near it. Why? It's not because Germans are scary... the real reason, the sole truth of the matter, the root cause of it, is that LIONEL MESSI IS CRAP!

Which is what I've been saying all along. The sky-high free kick simply proves it.

That's right peeps, GERMANY has finally won the World Cup. This brings their total to 4, and ties them for second place with Italy behind (cough-cough) BRASIL.

GRR-MANY 1, MESSI'S SCAPEGOATS 0
The game was scoreless up to the 112-minute mark. On a relatively harmless looking play, André Schürrle crossed for Mario Götze, who bounced the ball off his chest and one-timed it as it fell, sending it into the far side of the net just inside the post. Did I mention that Götze was a substitute for Germany in this match?

Götze proves to his manager that he's better than Messi. But then, who isn't?

It was a BEAUTY. Mario Götze made it look easy, but don't let appearances deceive you: it was pure skill that finished that lovely cross. And Argentina's keeper is no slouch (unlike their number 10 guy).

Argentina tried to pour it on immediately after, threatening the Germans on a few occasions thereafter, but it was all for naught when Lionel Messy (that's right, I said MESSY) blew what was quite possibly their best chance on a free kick by attempting to kick the ball back to his home in Argentina.

Hey Messi, the net's about a kilometer lower; thanks for coming out.

I shouldn't give Messi too hard a ride (it's all in jest, of course). The truth of the matter is that aside from Messi, Argentina lacked the quality from the rest of their team to adequately finish the meager chances they were able to manufacture. The Germans were just too good, too precise, and too deep.

The stats don't lie; the right team won this one.

Congratulations to GERMANY and all their fans. It's been a long time coming.


THE FINAL STANDINGS
First, a little explanation on bonus points.

Prior to the first match of the World Cup, you all submitted a prediction of which two teams would meet in the final, along with the result.

Bonus points are awarded as follows: 3 point for each team you picked, 1 point for the result (eg. USA to win, or BRASIL to lose), and 1 point for accurately predicting goals scored for each team.

As an example, DF forecasted:

ESP 2, GER 1

DF gets 3 points for correctly predicting Germany to be in the final match. He also gets a point for predicting that Germany would score 1 goal in the final match. But alas, he predicted Germany would lose. And he also missed out on correctly predicting Germany's opponent.

TOTAL POINTS FOR DF: 3+1=4

I commend SS for his reasonably accurate forecast of:

GER 2, ARG 1

SS receives 3 points for each team predicted, plus an additional 1 point for picking Germany to win. But he did not predict the correct number of goals for either side.

TOTAL POINTS FOR SS: 3+3+1=7

Now, since SS correctly predicted the two opponents right from the get-go, he had an opportunity. As the tournament went on, he may have seen things from both teams that could have swayed him to choose a DIFFERENT final result with his last pick. Maybe he thought Germany was just too hot for Argentina to handle. In that case, he could have picked GER 5, ARG 0.

Or maybe he thought German legs were too tired after bushwhacking the Brasilians. In that case, he could have picked ARG 3, GER 1.

In either case, his original forecast still stands. Because he was eerily prescient, he had the opportunity to double up by maintaining belief in his original forecast, or hedge his bet by reversing the outcome if he so chose. He is not obligated to choose now as he chose before the tournament began.

He ended up toeing the line.

Regardless, he didn't win. He came second.

The winner was AS.

The GERMANS WIN, AGAIN.

Here are the final results, with bonus points in parentheses:

AS		128 (4)			SS		125 (7)			JS		122 (0)
TM		122 (4)			SR		121 (0)			TC		121 (3)
BW		108 (0)			PS		103 (4)			DF		100 (4)

Congratulations to AS and SS for taking 1st and 2nd place respectively. You have earned the respect and admiration of your peers, not to mention prizes in the amounts of $76.50 and $51.00.

Congratulations also to JS for taking 1st place at the conclusion of the Group Stage. He has earned half of his entry back! Don't spend it all in one place.

And congratulations and a hearty thank you to all for taking part! Without you, of course, this pool would not exist.

Now, let us all look forward to EURO 2016, when IRELAND will re-establish itself as a MAJOR POWER by kicking some GER... errr, did I say IRELAND? I meant BELGIUM.

I'm bullish on BELGIUM.

See y'all in two years!