World Cup of world cups

On July 13 last ended the world's one of the most auspicious sporting events-the 20th FIFA World Cup-to the cheers and tears of participating nations. On June 12 last the World Cup kicked off with thirty-two nations divided into eight groups. They competed in the group stage, then in the round of 16, in quarterfinals, semifinals and finally in the final.
In the final, Germany beat Argentina by 1-0 and won the 2014 cup. It was Germany's fourth World Cup victory. It also won in 1954, 1974 and 1990. Besides, Germany became runners-up four times and secured the third place also four times. Germany are the only nation who won both the FIFA men's and women's World Cups.     
On the other hand, Argentina won the FIFA World Cup twice beating the Netherlands in the final by 3-1 in 1978; and again in 1986 won a 3-2 victory over the then West Germans. Argentina became runners-up three times including that in the 2014 world cup.
The Netherlands though played in the most finals; unfortunately they never won. They finished the runners-up thrice and secured the third place in the latest one beating Brazil by 3-0. What a bad luck of Brazil? They secured the fourth place in the 2014 World Cup. The worst moment of Brazil in the 2014 World Cup was losing to the holders Germany 1-7. Germany shattered Brazil's dream by a big margin. Despite the fact, Brazil have the glorious contributions to the FIFA World Cup for being champions five times-in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002. Brazil became runners-up twice, 3rd and 4th also twice.
We enjoyed a successful World Cup in 2014. We thank Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. In his words "In the last 30 days the world has been connected to Brazil … making this the World Cup of World Cups."
Iftu Ahmed
Aurora, IL, USA
iftuahmed@sbcglobal.net