David Beckham limped off without making much of an impact but managed to avoid a media lynching, partly because he played the pity card.
He cried after being substituted and then metaphorically fell on his own sword when he gave up the England captaincy.
If Germany goes on to win the Cup, Argentina can point to the penalty it should have been given two minutes from the end of time.
Maxi Rodriguez broke into the box and was tripped by Philipp Lahm. In another dimension of space and time, Lahm would have been the villain and Rodriguez the hero. Yet the referee gave the Argentine a yellow card for diving and the Germans won on penalties after extra time.
As for the final whistle on July 9, we will only care for the champions. There will be no time for losers.
But the truth is there's a fine line between the two.
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