Germany Wins 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil

Montreal QC – Germany defeated Nigeria 1-0 to win the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal last Sunday. After covering the 2014 U-20 Women’s World Cup and staying abreast with its many twists and turns I think it’s safe to say that the notion that the best teams always win is not quite accurate.

No one can deny that Germany U-20 Women was outplayed by Nigeria in the championship final match and won the Cup thanks to some excellent goalkeeping and admirable team discipline.

It was an action filled final with Germany Meike Kamper playing a major role in net for Germany. She was undoubtedly the best goalkeeper in the tournament and was certainly up for the task against the tournament leading scorer in Nigeria’s #4, Asisat Oshoala in the final.

Kamper won the Golden Glove as the Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament and finished with consecutive Player of the Match awards for her stellar play in both the semi-final and final. She neutralized two of the most potent offences in the tournament even though Germany was at a disadvantage both territorially play and the number of scoring chances.

However, the play that broke Nigeria’s back was their goal that was called back with five minutes remaining. It occurred when one of Nigeria players touch the ball that was already entering the German’s net and was ruled to be in an offside position.

It left the score at 0-0 heading into extra time for Petermann to score the winner in the first half of extra time. Nigeria as unable to respond as Germany saw out the remaining minutes to be crowned as the 2014 U-20 Women’s champions of the world

Oshoala won the Golden Boot with Pauline Bremer and Sara Daebritz of Germany second and third respectively Oshoala also won the Adidas Golden Ball as the Tournament’s Best Player with the Silver going to Griedge Mbock Bathy and the Bronze to Claire Lavogez both of France. Canada won the Fair Play Award.

The final of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Canada 2014 was a repeat of the 2010 showpiece between the then hosts Germany and Nigeria. Unfortunately for Nigeria, last Sunday’s final score was also in the favour of the Germans.

Germany has reached the final of the competition on four occasions and their appearance marked their third in a row.

France defeated the 2006 winners Korea DPR 3-2 in the third place match to claim the bronze medal but the Asians have arrived to stay in the world of soccer.

The North Koreans knocked out the reigning champions USA but was not up for the task in the quarter-finals and suffered a surprising 6-2 loss at the hands of the Nigerians.

Korea DPR did a lot better than their neighbours but unfortunately they had to face a France U-20 Women’s team which by my watch was the best playing team in the 2014 U-20 Women’s World Cup tournament. However just like Nigeria in the final France paid the price against Germany for missing too many scoring opportunities in their semi final match also. When with just over 9 minutes left in regulation they allowed the winning goal against the run of play.

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