Costa Rica; Team of the World Cup.

As substitute Mario Goetze gave Germany a 1-0 victory over Argentina this morning, the 2014 World Cup is now officially over. Germany is now the World Cup champion for the fourth time in their history, and also became the first European team in history to clinch soccer's greatest prize on South American soil.

With the tournament over however, I would like to point out a few things that has come to light in this World Cup;

1)      Germany has now become the best football team in the world. For the past decade, that title belongs to Spain. Spain’s record speaks for itself but with a 7-1 thumping over Brazil in the semifinals and now this victory over Argentina; the Germans have clearly become the new top dogs in international football.

2)      The South Americans are now behind Europe. Yes, I know a lot has been written about how well the South Americans were doing in the group stages and the second round, but when it comes down to the business end of the tournament, the class of the Europeans told. The simple fact of the matter is that Europe has now won a World Cup in South America. Not only that, Argentina is actually the first South American side to reach a World Cup final since 2002 when Brazil won it. For the past 3 World Cups, Europe has 5 finalists and 3 winners; South America has 1 finalist and no winners. Nuff said.

3)      North America has now overtaken Asia and Africa as the most likely continent to produce a World Cup winner outside Europe and South America. America and Costa Rica surprised everyone in this World Cup by having their best tournaments ever. Special praise must be given to the Costa Ricans who shocked the world by topping the Group of Death and for reaching the quarterfinals where they lost a penalty shootout to the Dutch. Germany may have won the World Cup but for me, for keeping the romance of football alive, Costa Rica is the team of the World Cup.