The 2014 World Cup final was decided from the bench: one substitute crossed, another scored. Mario Götze’s goal in the 113th minute is proof that a team’s strength shows in the people who can step in.
4 min read4 sectionsSituationConnection to the principle
Contents
Rio de Janeiro, July 13, 2014, the Maracanã, 74,738 spectators. In the 88th minute of the World Cup final against Argentina, the score is 0–0. Germany coach Joachim Löw takes off 36-year-old Miroslav Klose and sends on a 22-year-old who did not play a single minute in the semifinal. Twenty-five minutes of playing time later, that 22-year-old scores the goal that wins the title. The Team Principle of the Bench says: a team’s strength shows in the people who can step in. Rarely has that been as literally visible as it was that evening.
Two dots run onto the field from the bench: one crosses, the gold one scores – like Mario Götze in the 2014 World Cup final.
01
From Starter to Substitute
Situation
Mario Götze, born on June 3, 1992, begins the tournament in the starting lineup. In the first game, against Portugal, he wins a penalty. In the second group game, against Ghana, he scores Germany’s first goal and is named player of the match. Then he loses his place. He plays 14 minutes against the USA, one half against Algeria in the round of 16 and seven minutes against France in the quarterfinal. Throughout the 7–1 semifinal against Brazil, he stays on the bench.
Connection to the team principle
The bench is not made up of weaker players. Often it is made up of players who simply aren’t needed at the moment. For the individual, that is a real test: he experiences the tournament’s greatest victory as a spectator. Whether a team truly has a bench depends on whether such players stay ready anyway.
02
The Bench Steps In Before Kickoff
Situation
Even before the final kicks off, Sami Khedira injures his calf during the warm-up. Christoph Kramer moves into the starting lineup. Early in the game, Kramer suffers a head injury and has to leave the field after about half an hour. André Schürrle comes on for him.
Connection to the team principle
Within the first half hour, a starter drops out, and then his replacement. So the team needs a replacement for the replacement – in the most important game in four years. A squad with only eleven strong players would have been finished at this point. Depth shows not when the first player drops out but when the second one does.
03
88th Minute: Götze Comes On
Situation
Shortly before the end of regulation time, Löw sends Götze on for Klose. He reportedly told him, in essence, to show the world that he was better than Messi. The remark is documented only secondhand.
Connection to the team principle
Whatever exactly was said, the coach sends on a player he had demoted during the tournament and trusts him to decide the game. A bench only holds up if the leader stays connected to those sitting on the sidelines. Someone who has heard for weeks that he isn’t needed won’t be ready in the 88th minute.
04
113th Minute: Assist and Goal From the Bench
Situation
In extra time, Schürrle crosses from the left. Götze chests the ball down and volleys it into the net with his left foot – 1–0. The player who set it up and the scorer are both substitutes. Götze is the first substitute to decide a World Cup final and, at 22, the youngest scorer in a final since Wolfgang Weber in 1966. He is named player of the match, even though he played only two minutes of regulation time plus extra time. Germany wins its fourth World Cup – the first European team to win a World Cup held in the Americas.
Connection to the team principle
The decisive goal of the tournament comes entirely from the bench. That is no quirk of the lineup but the result of a squad in which numbers twelve through twenty-three can also decide a final. The starting eleven kept the game open. It was won by those who stepped in.
Key takeaways
Key Lessons
01
Don’t count only the first string on your team. Ask yourself: Who could take over a key task tomorrow – and who after that?
02
Stay in touch with those who are not in action right now. Tell them what you need them for.
03
If you have been demoted yourself, stay prepared. Your moment may come in the 88th minute.
04
Plan for the second absence, not just the first.
05
Publicly recognize those who come off the bench. Those who step in have helped carry the success.
Summary
In the final in Rio, one starter drops out before kickoff and his replacement after half an hour. In the end, one substitute crosses and another substitute scores. Mario Götze had lost his starting place during the tournament and was ready anyway. The Team Principle of the Bench appears here in its purest form: a team’s strength lies in the people who can step in.
