European stalwarts won title for the fourth time when substitute Mario Goetze volleyed in a brilliant goal seven minutes from the end of extra time.
Defending champions Spain will start their 2014 World Cup in Group B against Netherlands on Friday and Spain's goalkeeper Iker Casillas believes the Dutch side will be largely relying on their attacking triangle including Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Robin van Persie.
Four years ago Spain and the Netherlands played the World Cup final in South Africa, and on Friday both teams meet again in Salvador in group stage.
Street football is often an integral part of childhood in Atushi city of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the city where people's passion for football can be seen everywhere.
Cuju first appeared in the renowned ancient Chinese historical work Zhan Guo Ce ("Strategies of the Warring States") compiled which described cuju as a form of entertainment among the general public.
Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura was the toast of Brazil and the curse of Croatia on Thursday after his contentious penalty award proved decisive in helping the home side to a 3-1 opening day win in the World Cup.
Neymar gave Brazil a winning start to its home World Cup, scoring twice to lead the host nation to a 3-1 come-from-behind victory over Croatia in the opening game on Thursday.
Neymar gave Brazil a winning start to its home World Cup, scoring twice to lead the host nation to a 3-1 come-from-behind victory over Croatia in the opening game on Thursday.
Say you're one of the 600,000 foreigners expected to attend the World Cup in Brazil, where hardly anyone speaks a language besides Portuguese, and you find yourself in the hospital and unable to communicate with the doctor. What do you do?
Despite the national team failing to qualify, soccer-related articles dominate the Internet, television, radio, newspapers and social networking sites.
As Brazil and Croatia compete for the first point in the kickoff match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Chinese Internet companies are joining an equally intense head-to-head scuffle at home.
The World Cup is just around the corner. If you are one of those loyal football fans, you might have already started to note the game schedules and have already planned how to spend those exciting hours watching football.