Germany is the first side from Europe to win a World Cup in the Americas, determined that a golden generation will finally get its reward after a string of near-misses.
Messi was declared as the Player of the tournament and awarded GoldenBall.
Germany won their fourth World Cup after a 24-year wait. Incidentally, this is the first World Cup for unified Germany, the previous three having been won by West Germany in 1954, 1974 and 1990.
Lionel Messi, arguably the best player on the planet, was denied a fairytale end to his third World Cup campaign and a chance to match the heroics of countryman Diego Maradona.
Argentina in 1986, had gone home from Mexico with the World Cup and the legend of Maradona’s hand of god. On Sunday evening they went back just with the aching pain of letting the Cup slip away from their grasp and the tragic tale of Higuain’s feet of clay.
Messi also missed an early second-half chance, shooting wide from a tight angle. Messi broke free on the left side and tried to go for the far post but the ball rolled wide of the Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and his net.
It was even stevens in the first half as both Argentina and Germany had their moments with the balance slightly tilted in favour of the South Americans.
That’s perhaps because Alejandro Sabella’s outfit had more shots at goal as compared to their famed opponents from Europe.
They made inroads into the German half intermittently and kept the back four, led by skipper Phillip Lahm, busy with their typical latin American enterprise.
The only thing that Argentina lacked on the big day was finishing. Leaving aside Gonzalo Higuain’s successful tap-in that was ruled off-side, the Albiceleste could have gone ahead at least on two occasions if not more.
In the 22nd minute, what appeared to be a routine clearance was back headed on the path of Higuain by Tony Kross, but the Napoli frontman messed up as he failed to put Argentina in lead with only goalkeeper Mauel Neuer at his mercy.
Ezequiel Lavezzi was also blocked on the goal line from turning in a Messi cross. Few half attempts were taken care of by Neuer.
La Albiceleste showed enough speed and movement to trouble the German back four. Higuain, Messi and Lavezzi can all beat their markers for pace and they gave enough evidence of that, alas without success.
Meanwhile, in the first half added time, the Argentines had their hearts pounding when Benedikt Hoewedes’s header at the death thudded against the vertical.
Right after the break, Messi had a chance to join legends such as Maradona and Pele. Germany left space on the edge of the area for him to exploit and that he does, squeezing his way into the box before launching one on the wrong side of the far post.
A frustrated Sabella finally replaced Higuain in the 78th minute with Rodrigo Palacio on a night that could have been his on more than one occasion.
And then, a few minutes after Fernando Gago’s arrival, 36-year-old Miroslav Klose’s World Cup came to an end after the finals’ all-time highest scorer was substituted with Goetze, which eventually proved to be a masterstroke.