Loew hails 'miracle boy' Goetze

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Loew hails 'miracle boy' Goetze

Germany coach Joachim Loew hailed "miracle boy" Mario Goetze after the Bayern Munich star's World Cup-winning extra-time goal here Sunday.

Goetze rose from the substitutes bench to score a stunning 113th minute goal as Germany beat Argentina 1-0.

"Goetze is the miracle boy, he is the wonder who can play in numerous positions, he is the decider who can come on and make a difference and that is what he did today," said Loew.

The German coach meanwhile basked in his team's historic win, the first by a European team in South America.

It came after four consecutive near-misses in major tournaments stretching back to 2006.

"We have been together for 55 days, we have started this project years ago and this is the culmination of a lot of hard work," Loew said.

"We have been able to improve our performances, we believed in it and worked a lot for it.

"This team really deserves it with the likes of Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker.

"We have had disappointment in the past having gone close by playing good football.

"I think we put in the best performances over all the seven matches of all the teams here."

Loew said the tournament triumph was forged on team spirit.

"This team has developed an unbelievable team spirit and has developed a marvellous mental capacity," he said.

"And we are proud to become the first European country to win the title in south America. In Brazil, In Rio is this fooball-loving country and that makes us very proud."

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2014-07-14