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The ‘miracle boy’ who did better than Messi

After all the focus this past month on the more established brilliance of Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos, the one slight surprise was that it should be Mario Gotze who applied such a perfectly executed finish to this World Cup.

Gotze’s brilliant finish was the visible end product of the best coaching structure in the world. Photo: Getty Images

Gotze’s brilliant finish was the visible end product of the best coaching structure in the world. Photo: Getty Images

After all the focus this past month on the more established brilliance of Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos, the one slight surprise was that it should be Mario Gotze who applied such a perfectly executed finish to this World Cup.

A surprise, perhaps, to the rest of the world but not really in Germany where Gotze, despite some recent difficulties, has long been regarded as the most exciting young talent from even their vast talent factory. Indeed, when Lars Ricken showed a group of English journalists around the Bundesliga academy back in 2010, it was the name “Mario Gotze” that we were repeatedly told to watch and follow.

He had only just turned 18, but there was never even the slightest doubt that he would get his chance at Dortmund.

It was to be Gotze’s breakthrough season, with Jurgen Klopp not hesitating in playing an 18-year-old through 41 senior games en route to the Bundesliga title.

Klopp also did not hesitate to turn down a £30 million (S$63.7 million) offer the following summer when Arsene Wenger hoped to make him Cesc Fabregas’ replacement at Arsenal. Matthias Sammer, who was formerly the German FA’s technical director, then described Gotze as “one of the best talents that Germany’s ever had”.

He is one of the first generation of young German players to fully benefit from an overhaul in academy structures in the early 2000s that ensure all Bundesliga clubs meet strict guidelines on facilities, the numbers and expertise of coaches as well as their ongoing financial commitment.

It is no accident that the German system has produced not just a great team but far more quality on the bench than any other nation in Brazil. This was a squad flourishing without five injured midfielders — Lars and Sven Bender, Sami Khedira, Marco Reus and Christoph Kramer — who would walk into most other teams.

It was also interesting in the post-match press conference to hear Low admit he had simply told Gotze before the second period of extra time to “show them that you are better than (Lionel) Messi and can decide the World Cup”.

Perhaps Low was conscious of an interview earlier this year by Pep Guardiola, Gotze’s manager at Bayern Munich, who described Messi as on “another level”.

Low, it would seem, does not share that assessment.

“Gotze is a miracle boy,” he said. “I told them before the match they’d have to give more than they ever have if they were to achieve something they’d never achieved. And they did that.”

Miroslav Klose had been preferred as Germany’s main striker in the knockout phase even of this World Cup while, at club level, Gotze has not been an automatic selection for Bayern since leaving Dortmund last year.

Even so, Gotze still finished the Bundesliga season with a better ratio for goals and assists than in any year of his career.

“It wasn’t a simple year or tournament for me,” Gotze said last night. “I owe very much to my family, my girlfriend and close relatives who always believed in me. That is very important. It’s an unbelievable feeling. Indescribable. A dream became a reality.”

Football matches are often decided on unexpected moments of great skill or luck. Argentina will rue the misses by Gonzalo Higuain and Messi. Yet it would be misplaced to regard this result as even remotely freakish. Gotze’s brilliant finish was simply the visible end product of the best coaching structure in the world.

Germany now have a chance to dominate international football for the foreseeable future.

As for the present, they are simply the most deserving possible world champions. Gotze was also the most appropriate of match-winners.

Jeremy Wilson is a journalist with The Daily Telegraph.

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