Brazil can dish it out, they just can't take it...

Germany's Angerer stops the unstoppable Marta, again.

Scoreline - September 30, 2007
Germany: 2
Prinz 52'; Laudehr 86'
Brazil: 0

It's eerie how the women's national teams can be identified with their respective men's teams.

Germany: Tactical, methodical, relentless.

Brazil: Dazzling, spontaneous, fragile.

It's been said that when Brazil loses, they have been defeated by Brazil. I wouldn't put this match firmly in that category - but there is an element of truth there. If Brazil was half as good at dealing with adversity as they are at handling the ball, they would have run away with this match.

But Germany came to play. Having allowed no one to score on them the entire tournament, Brazil came closer than anyone. Hitting the post, missing sitters, and losing rebounds. Brazil just could not get it done. Early misses and mistakes compounded over time and pretty soon you had Brazillian players yelling at each other and whining to the referee.

If it had been Germany a goal down for 86 minutes - you know they'd have stuck to their plan and marched forward until they equalized. Brazil you wondered when they would crack.

That point came at the 63rd minute when Linda Bresonik was carded in the box to give Brazil a penalty. They give it to Marta.

What a set up. World Cup final, her team is one goal down and a pk is being taken by (hands down) the most exciting best player in the tournament.

-and she tanks it.

Right then is when I knew Brazil was going down. They'd fought terribly hard and the game had lived up to the hype. Frenetic pace and end to end dramatics. But Germany had Brazil off their game and then Marta chokes.

Take nothing away from Marta. She is all that that and a bag of chips - but when the pressure was on, really on - she didn't get it done for her team. She puts that ball in, and Brazil is off to the races. Missing it and not getting the rebound just convinced the flighty Brazilians that the fates were against them.

-But of course they weren't. One goal down with their kind of talent is nothing. Brazil being Brazil, they began appealing for cautions, rolling in agony over minor fouls and generally behaving as if they needed the ref's help to pull this one off.

Which is a damn shame, because as anyone with eyes can see - Brazil can field more talent than any two nations in the tournament. They just can't make that talent believe in themselves apparently.

All hail Prinz and company. A team that somehow managed to be an unstoppable force and an immovable object. Scoring 21 goals and allowing none - that's got to feel nice. Smisek's setup of Prinz's go ahead goal was a thing of beauty and I'm hoping she's back for the Olympics. Ditto Garefrekes (for more than just the name) and Angerer - the goalkeeper everyone questioned, right up until she won the World Cup was deservedly FIFA's player of the match.

It's been a great tournament and a great run for Germany.

One last time, say it with me-
(for posterity, and austere, pony-tailed midfielders everywhere!!)

Garefrekes! Garefrekes! Garefrekes!