RIO DE JANEIRO: When Germany thrashed Brazil 7-1 with Miroslav Klose becoming the World Cup's all-team leading goalscorer, Mario Goetze could probably have been forgiven for not leading the cheers from the sidelines.

Having arrived in Brazil as his country's first-choice forward he watched that entire semi-final from the bench having been dropped earlier in the tournament and replaced by Klose.

Goetze was again among the substitutes for Sunday's final and would have had few expectations of being involved as coach Joachim Loew understandably kept faith with the team which had marched into the final in such style.

However, Loew threw him on for Klose two minutes from the end of normal time and he repaid him the most spectacular way possible by smashing in brilliant goal seven minutes from the end of extra time to beat Argentina 1-0 and secure his country's fourth World Cup and first since 1990 - two years before he was born.

Fellow substitute Andre Schuerrle advanced past a tiring Argentine defence down the left and picked out Goetze in the box. The 22-year-old leapt to control the ball on his chest before stretching to sweep a sweet volley beyond Sergio Romero.

A few months ago Goetze's career was on a one-way upward trajectory.

Having helped Borussia Dortmund to two Bundesliga titles and into the 2013 Champions League final he did what all great German players seem to do - agree a huge transfer to Bayern Munich.

Another league and cup double duly followed and he completely won over Loew, who loved the versatility that allowed him to use the quick-footed and mobile player as a midfielder or even lone striker.

Once in Brazil he started the opening 4-0 win over Portugal and got the first goal in the 2-2 draw with Ghana but was a substitute in the final group game against the U.S.

He was restored to the starting lineup for the second round against Algeria but played poorly and was hauled off at halftime.

With Klose established in the side he had to settle for another late sub appearance in the quarter-final victory over France and must have found it difficult as pundits praised Loew for finally finding the right lineup.

How Goetze must have longed to have been involved as Brazil's defence opened up so invitingly in Belo Horizonte but the goals were spread elsewhere and it was Klose, supported by Thomas Mueller and Tony Kroos, who were again going to be the goalscoring threat in the final.

Loew's final plans were no doubt disrupted by the pre-match withdrawal of Sami Khedira and then being forced to replace his replacement Christoph Kramer with Schuerrle after half an hour.

But there was still time for Goetze to become involved, and how he grasped the opportunity, becoming the only substitute to score the winning goal in a World Cup final.

“It's incredibly important that we stuck together,” said Klose. “At halftime I told Mario 'I think you'll get a goal tonight.' “It's just incredible.”

Jubilant German press celebrates

A jubilant German press celebrated the national side's fourth World Cup win and crowned striker “Super Mario “Goetze as a “football god” for his victory-clinching dream goal.

“It Is True”, headlined conservative broadsheet Die Welt, with the three words printed in the national colours of black, red and gold. “What a match, what a fight, what drama,” it exclaimed.

The top-selling Bild daily splashed “1:0” and “World Champions!” across its front page over a photo of Goetze and dedicated the next 16 pages to every detail of the team's triumph in Rio de Janeiro.

Online, the paper cheered: “Goetze, God of football” and heaped gratitude on the trainer and the rest of the team: “Thank you, Jogi (Loew)! Thank you guys! You have made us infinitely happy. “

“We bow to coach Jogi Loew ... Concentrated, he led the team through the tournament. He remains quiet after big wins. He remains calm after tough matches,” Bild said.

“You are the Greatest!” cheered the headline over a double-page lift-out poster inside the paper, showing Bastian Schweinsteiger lifting the trophy over his head and the ecstatic team punching the air.

Even the paper's health section offered advice to hardcore fans on how to deal with the withdrawal symptoms after weeks of football fever and on how to overcome the post-World Cup blues.

News website Spiegel Online cheered, “1954. 1974. 1990. 2014!”, recalling the four times Germany has clinched the trophy.

“Goetze, the liberator,” headlined the online edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

“For the first time a European team has won a world tournament in South America ... the title for Germany is well deserved. “

“World Champion! Germany's national football team has delivered,” cheered the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung, predicting days of celebrations.

“What started with honking motorcades in the evening will only grow by the time the team comes home,” it said, describing the massive impact the win has had on the football-crazed nation.

“Nothing can resist the pull of football. War in Israel? War in Ukraine? The (US-German) spying scandal? For many those didn't matter. Everyone came on board: politicians and companies, newspapers and TV stations, football fans and those who usually aren't. “

The Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger noted that Germany, where patriotism has long been restrained by guilt over World War II and the Holocaust, has become a little more like other countries in its expressions of national joy.

“The tensions of the past have finally eased, but this hasn't been followed by a new nationalism, rather a new openness to the world,” it said.