The World Cup final is live with Argentina and Germany on Sunday on ABC at 3 pm ET from the WatchESPN website and ESPN Radio and the game from Estádio Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro has two teams that everyone expected to be in contention for the final in Brazil and now the best player in the world in Lionel Messi takes on the German side that is favored to win and this is the third time these teams have played in the finals for the tourney.
The World Cup has been a month long slog and with the group stage moving into the knockouts, Germany and Argentina are the last two left and this is not an unexpected final. Many felt Brazil would make it all the way to the final and they ended up falling apart at the end of the tournament and allowed 10 goals in the final two games and scored just one, allowing the Netherlands to win 3-0 to end up in fourth place for the tourney. Brazil had a nightmare finish out of the top three and it looks even worse since the Dutch said a ton of quotes about how they didn't care about the third place game and they ended up winning.
Argentina now has the chance to win for the South American continent and Messi has the chance to be the best player ever from his country, as he has won every award possible and now just needs a World Cup title. Argentina played very well in the group stage but they still needed some help, including the amazing goal from Messi against Iran and now he is in position to hoist the trophy in Brazil.
The final should be the exact opposite of what Germany did to Brazil and this game is more likely to be like the game Argentina had against the Netherlands, as the German side is one of the best and Argentina is one of the best defenses. Argentina has been criticized in the past for playing for the penalty kicks and that was what the Dutch said they did in that semis last week and now they could do that again. Messi started things off with a penalty conversion in the kicks and that gave the team the advantage and now they have the chance to win the title.
Argentina is making it into the finals for the fifth time and this is the first since since back in 1990 that the teams are matching up and the Germans come in as one of the favored teams. The two split the first tournament matchups and now they face off again.
Check here for the Argentina and Germany live coverage for the World Cup 2014 finals.
