5) Liverpool 3-2 Manchester City – EPL Match – April 13
Imagine being at Anfield, two days before the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster, facing a must win game in order to have a shot to win the EPL title after 24 years, that is something to behold.
After Liverpool took the lead 2-0 early on in the game, Manchester City came back like the champions they are. Scoring twice in five minutes, it all looked dire for those in red at Anfield. Then out of nowhere, a rare mistake by Vincent Kompany granted Coutinho with a golden chance to win and he did. Liverpool came out victors and their title hopes remained. While Liverpool still lost the title to Manchester City, this sparked many to believe that Liverpool could give them some competition.
4) Netherlands 2-1 Mexico – World Cup Round of 16 – June 29
The Netherlands’ journey through CONCACAF country started with Mexico in the Round of 16. Unlike Costa Rica, Mexico really took it to the Dutch and were rather impressive. Giovani dos Santos gave Mexico the lead in the beginning of the 2nd half.
While it looked like Mexico was going to pull off the upset, here came the Netherlands. Wesley Sneijder rockets a shot off of a corner in the 88th minute to equalize. Then Arjen Robben dove in the box and acted like someone who was drowning in about an inch of water in order to win the PK and advance 2-1.
3) Real Madrid 4-1 Atletico Madrid AET – Champions League Final – May 24
The two Madrid teams don’t care much for each other, and that’s probably the nicest way anyone has ever described that relationship. These two teams fought for just about everything in 2014. They went for the La Liga title (won by Atletico) and faced each other on the big stage in European competition.
The Champions League Final proved to be a classic as both Madrid teams took each other on and left it all out on the line. Atletico scored in the 36th minute and tried to keep a hold of the lead and sneak away with the win. When all was seemed as if Atletico was going to pull it off, Real got the equalizer in the 93rd minute with a Sergio Ramos header. After that and once it got into extra time, Atletico was worn down trying to defend the entire game and Real pulled it into top gear and brought the title home for a record 10th time.
2) Brazil 1-7 Germany – World Cup Semifinal – July 8
This wasn’t a great game by any stretch of the imagination. The way Germany played, this game was over in about 30 minutes. This game was an important game because we have never seen a dismantling of a soccer superpower like Brazil and everyone watching had a curiosity to see how bad it could get.
What we got was a 7-1 thrashing from the future World Cup champions and gave the Brazilians deja vu from the 1950 World Cup Final when Brazil lost to Uruguay 2-1 in the Maracana.
1) Germany 1-0 Argentina AET – World Cup Final – July 13
The World Cup Final, this game was tense right down to the final whistle. Like a heavyweight fight, both teams had opportunities to land knockout punches throughout the game. From Gonzalo Higuain’s miss after Germany’s mistake in the 21st minute to the offside call to the many opportunities Germany had which were saved by Sergio Romero, both teams had their share of chances to win the World Cup.
The drama, the tension and the urgency heated up in extra time. Then in the 113th minute, Andre Schurrle crossed the ball to Mario Gotze and with a volley, Gotze never gets to pay for a beer in Germany ever again. Germany outlasted Argentina 1-0 to win the World Cup.
