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Germany’s Manuel Neuer named 2014 World Cup’s Best Goalkeeper

The 28-year-old German’s No 1 conceded only four goals in a total of seven matches his team played at the global football tournament

RIO DE JANEIRO, July 14, /ITAR-TASS/. As the 2014 World Cup in Brazil came to its conclusion after the final match on Sunday night in Rio de Janeiro, Germany’s Manuel Neuer was named the best goal keeper of the tournament and presented with the Golden Glove award.

Germany won its 4th world champion’s title after defeating Argentina 1-0 in the final match of the 2014 World Cup held at the over 74,700-seat Maracana Stadium on Sunday with Neuer playing one of the most important parts in his team’s struggle for the title.

The 28-year-old German’s No 1 conceded only four goals in a total of seven matches his team played at the global football tournament, held in Brazil between June 12 and July 13, and Neuer’s impressive shot-stopping ability earned him the title of the championship’s best goalie.

"It is unbelievable," the official website of the 2014 World Cup quoted him as saying after the match against the Argentinians.

"The team has done superbly, not only the players, but also the team behind the team. At some point we will stop celebrating, but we will always stand up again with a smile," he added.

With a total of six World Cups held in Latin America (1930 in Uruguay, 1950 in Brazil, 1962 in Chile, 1970 in Mexico, 1978 in Argentina and 1986 in Mexico) Germany became the first European team to snatch the title there adding to their previous three won in 1954, 1974 and 1990.

Describing the performing skills of Neuer at the championship in Brazil, the official 2014 World Cup website, wrote in particular that “he has been dubbed a ‘sweeper-keeper’ by sections of the media for his performances at this World Cup, featuring plenty of evidence of his desire to come off his line and play accurate passes when under pressure.”

The winning goal of the decider for the global football’s crown at the Maracana Stadium was netted by German forward Mario Goetze, 22, in the second 15-minute half of the extended time (113th minute).

This was the third final face-off for Argentina and Germany with the frames of the World Cup series. They first time played for the title in 1986 in Mexico, where the Argentinians defeated the Nationalmannschaft 3-2, and then in Italy in 1990, when the German squad avenged La Albiceleste with 1-0 victory.

Their third time final meeting is the first in the history of World Cups with only Italy and Brazil playing each other at this stage of the global football tournaments twice in 1970 and 1994.

Prior to the match on Sunday night, both teams had an overall history of 20 matches played against each other and besides the five tied matches Argentina packed nine victories against Germany’s six. The number of scored goals stood even at 28 both for Germany and Argentina.

The bronze of the 2014 World Cup went to the Netherlands, who on Saturday night defeated hosts Brazil 3-0 at the Nacional Stadium in the country’s capital of Brasilia.