McGrath, I'm curious and would like you to search your memory. Germany (men and women) has been in 9 world cup finals (runner up: Brazil with 8) since they are played. Do you personally recollect any of these finals (whether Germany won or not) in which you had the impression that Germany was the better team that should have won or won deservedly? (:-)

You look at the game with a completely different perspective than I do. Football is a team sport and like in other team sports the mere addition of outstanding single athletes does not make a good team. I can appreciate for instance that a rugby team has one outstanding player but that the other team has a much better organisation when they have the ball. I can appreciate that one basket ball player makes three wonderful slam dunks during the game and does better tricks than any other player but that his team's defence is cueless who tackles which player.

I have seen a very different game last Sunday (well, I have only seen the second half and later some replays of first half actions). What I have seen was the following: Beautiful individual play by several Brazilian players; lack of organisation in the Brazilian defense; very good Brazilian attacks up to 30 yards from the German goal; Brazilian inability to bring one of their players into a hopeful and unchallenged position in the German box; no Brazilian player (in particular Marta) who was in the situation to have free place to run after having outtricked (passed) a German player; a German defense that had always two players (often three in the case of Marta) against one from Brazil; Brazilian attacks based upon individual ability and rarely based on teamwork; a nearly complete lack of Brazilian double passes in comparison to German.

Look not only at the goals (goal or not as we all know has also a chance aspect) but at the best chances:

Germany had three times in which they had a player in the Brazilian box with only the goalie before her. One time they did score with the Brazilian defense allowing Germany's best player (several times awarded best player of the world status) to shoot from about ten yards distance. The second German goal was not bad defense by Brazil for the player who scored was tackled when scoring. The three best chances of Brazil were a penalty, a freekick from outside the box and a kick from outside the box. Brazil did never get a player inside the box in a good shooting position without challenge from a German defender. But they looked very nice in the midfield. And they really should exercise headers, they were bloody awful in that part of playing football.

By the way I had a deja vu recalling the last time (which was also the first time) we saw a Germany-Brasil final. The last time, the player who after the game was awarded the best-player-of-tournament award, German goalie Kahn, made an awful mistake to allow Brazil their first goal. He didn't look happy when fingering this award. This time, Marta was elected best player and she also didn't look happy. She must have remembered that it was her mistake that decided the game.

BTW (though Shambles is not here who thinks that penalties are just a matter of luck), Marta's (and only her) way of penalty shooting was well studied before the game. The corner in which the German goalie was to jump and the moment of jumping (late, too late for Marta to correct) was not decided by a coin throw.

Wolfgang