Substitute Mario Gotze broke a 24-year FIFA World Cup drought for Germany when he landed the winner 23 minutes into extra time against Argentina in the early hours on Monday (Melbourne time).
And that opened the floodgates of long parties for Germans in Melbourne.
An ecstatic Andoearea Dorrer, himself a soccer player for 25 years, says he feels ‘‘really, really, really good’’ to finally see the World Cup trophy in the hands of his countrymen, a blissful scene he has been waiting for 24 years.
‘‘It’s too soon to tell how I am going to party, but I can say it’s going to be a very long party with everybody, family, friends, strangers.’’
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Mr Dorrer says he was among more than 300 people who watched the 1-0 result at Hophaus restaurant and bar in Southbank.
He says it felt the roof will come down as the jubilant crowd burst into celebrations as Gotze scored the goal with a volley after 113 minutes and win the fourth World Cup for Germany, equal with Italy.
‘‘[When Gotze scored] everyone jumped up, kept yelling, and hugging one another. And the euphoria lasted a very long time.’’
Despite the name Gotze now written in the German folklore, Mr Dorrer says his favourite German player was Toni Kroos, whom he regards as the best player of the tournament.
Brighton’s Toni Stani, who celebrated Germany’s win with about 400 people at German Club Tivoli at Windsor, describes the final as ‘‘a very, very good, exciting game’’.
Mr Stani, 73, says both teams were very good and were equal, but adds with a laughter that the better side won.
‘‘The techniques of both sides were excellent, with very precise ball passing and it was so exciting, though there were few injuries and few misses. We knew that the game will go into extra time when no side could kick goal for 90 minutes.’’
Mr Stani says though Gotze, 22, kicked the winner, ‘he’s not a hero. But he’s got a very good future.’’
He says it’s very hard to pick up a favouite in the German team, but he regards Bastian Schweinsteiger, midfielder from Bayern Munich club, as an excellent player in the tournament.
His other hero in the German team is goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who has had an excellent tournament.
Dieter Schwab, who also watched the match at Tivoli, says it was an ‘‘explosive’’ moment when Gotze kicked the winner.
‘‘Everybody [about 400 people watching the match at the club’s big screens] jumped up high. It was so lucky they didn’t fall on each other. But nobody cared, it was party time.
‘‘Cheers rocked the hall, and everybody sang ‘was für ein schöner Tag und Tag wird nie vergehen’ (what a beautiful day … day will never go away).’’
But Mr Schwab says until then, it had been a very tense, exciting match until the last moment, and where either side could have won.
He says he knew before the match that there will not a goal feast like Germany’s annihilation of Brazil 7-1 in the semi-final on Wednesday.
‘‘That [Brazil’s destruction] was so unexpected. You don’t see such high number of goals, but it was tremendous.’’
Mr Schwab, 61, from Caulfield, reckons from a spectator’s point of view, it may not have been a very nice game, with both teams giving the impression being there to not to lose, instead of trying to win.
Both were very careful, which is understandable, so much was at stake. If Germany had scored a goal earlier, it could have been a very fast game as Argentina would have tried to catch up.
‘‘But both were cautious, as there was a sausage to win. It would have been nice if it was faster.’’
Mr Schwab says it was predicted the game would go into a shootout, the way the play started.
But he says now it’s time to party that should last a long time.
Mr Schwab says there were a number of Argentinians who watched the game at Tivoli.
‘‘They were obviously disappointed with their team loss, but they congratulated the German fans.’’
Gonzalo Larre, an Argentian in Melbourne, says he is feeling extremely sad with his side’s loss.
‘‘I am heart-broken, like all my countrymen and countrywomen, but I am very proud of what my team did in the match.’’
Mr Larre says it was a very close match, and could have gone either way.
‘‘But there had to be a winner and the Germans are the deserving winner, a very deserving champion because of the way they played.’’
He says he congratulates Germans in Melbourne, but sent out a warning that the Argentinians will now be getting ready to tackle Germany in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
It couldn’t be the third-time lucky for Argentina as the best player on the planet Lionel Messi could not help his team avenge its 1990 loss to Germany, also with a 1-0 margin.
But he had the consolation prize, winning Golden Ball award for being the best player of the tournament.
