Javier Mascherano was a force to reckon with in the Argentina national team at the World Cup 2014. He was a major reason behind the team reaching the final of the competition. He almost single-handedly helped Argentina keep the Dutch at bay in the semifinals. The Latin American team eventually won the match on penalties to play against Germany in the final. Argentina’s hopes of winning the first World Cup title since the 1986 win were dashed after a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Joachim Loew’s team.
Argentina failed to create many opportunities in the match, while the goal from Mario Gotze was enough to seal the victory. After the match, a very disappointed Mascherano spoke about having to bear the scars of failure for the rest of his life. Lionel Messi was named as the player tournament, but he was extremely dejected while picking up the award. The same was the case with every other Argentina player and fan. Mascherano would have joined the elite band of players to have lifted every major title at club and international level.
As it is, Argentina may have to wait another four years before they can dream of winning the title. Diego Maradona was part of the team that won the title in 1986.
“Unfortunately the pain will be there for life because this was our chance. It is difficult to explain. It escaped from us at the last minute, we did everything to try and win. We had the best chances until we ran out of gas. The pain is immense because we wanted to take the World Cup back to Argentina but we gave everything. We are empty – we gave what we had and we are sorry for ourselves, for the people that came here and for the people that are in Argentina,” said Mascherano.