Super Mario! Gotze gives Germany the World Cup forr the 4th Time in History #IRepEntertain9jarBlog #TwitterTrendBlog via @myentertain9jar

Germany midfielder Mario Gotze celebrates his winning strike[GETTY]

Gotze struck a volley beyond Sergio Romero, after fi rst controlling Andre Schurrle's cross with his chest in the 113th minute to seal victory at the Maracana and make their opponents pay for an array of misses.
It is Germany's fourth World Cup triumph after the successes in 1954, 1974 and 1990 and, with it, they become the fi rst European side to win the tournament in the Americas.

"It is unbelievable," said Manuel Neuer, who won the Golden Glove award for the best goalkeeper in the tournament.

"All of Germany are world champions now. All those who didn't play brought such togetherness into the team, that's why we won the World Cup. The team did a super job, everything was great, the team behind the team. We're going to celebrate for at least fi ve weeks now. At some point we'll stop celebrating but we'll always keep waking up with a smile."

Coach Joachim Low saw his side shrug off their nearly men tag, having fallen short in semi–fi nals and fi nals in each of their previous four tournaments in spectacular fashion.

Germany boast the potential to go on dominate the global game and captain Philipp Lahm said: "What we have done and how we have worked is incredible.

"Whether we have the best individual players or whatever does not matter, you have to have the best team. We stepped up time and again, did not let ourselves get distracted by any disruption, went on our way.

"And at the end you stand there as world champions – an unbelievable feeling. The team have remained quiet and patient."

Schurrle added: "This is the best moment of my life. I had to cry because I was so overcome. I couldn't stop it.

It was always a dream to become a world champion. We are so looking forward to celebrating with our fans in Berlin tomorrow."Argentina had the better chances before then but failed to register a single shot on target as their fi nishing deserted them.

Skipper Messi wasted an opportunity at the start of the second half and the fact he was later named Player of the Tournament will be of little consolation .

Midfi elder Javier Mascherano said: "We gave everything we could. We had the best chances but we didn't take them. And we only had to last another fi ve minutes.

"The pain is immense. We wanted to win this for the people of Argentina, for those who came here to support us. But we have represented our country the best we could. We lament the fact that we haven't won but we have to lift our heads despite the pain."

Losing coach Alejandro Sabella refused to be drawn on his future, saying: "The players did everything they could in an Argentina jersey. They can look at themselves in the mirror and say we did all we could.

"Messi played an extraordinary World Cup – he was a fundamental factor in us making it this far."