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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 JULY 2014 47 (1990) in the nation's eighth final. "Our generation, we all know what it's about now. I think expe- rience is important and we have all played big games. We have de- veloped over the last years, gained experience and matured," he said. "There's only one thing to do now - to bring back the cup which we have wanted for so long and for which we have worked towards for so long. That is our job." Mueller, Lahm's Bayern team- mate, said Germany would be "throwing everything we have into this game" as they are likely to dominate possession against an expected defensive opponent. Loew has no injury concerns as a slight knee problem will not stop Mats Hummels from taking his place in central defence with Jer- ome Boateng. Loew will likely keep his line-up from the France quarter-final and Brazil semi, with Lahm the right back and Benedikt Hoewedes on the left, Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira in defensive midfield, Kroos in front of them, Mesut Oezil on the left, World Cup record scorer Miroslav Klose the lone striker and the lively Mueller on the right. Klose is the only man left from Germany's last final in 2002 which they lost 2-0 against Brazil. Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella will hope that Di Maria can return from a thigh muscle injury that kept him out of the semis, and the Real Madrid man has been back in training. Di Maria, who scored the 1-0 winner in the last 16 against Swit- zerland, would add unpredictabil- ity to the game and be an impor- tant partner for the captain Messi who is yet to improve from his four goals in the group stage. Higuain will likely remain the striker, with Aguero to start from the bench, and Ezequiel Lavezzi on the left. The midfield is organ- ised by the real team leader Javier Mascherano and also includes Lu- cas Biglia as Argentina aim to raise South America's winning record in finals with European teams to 8-2 in their fifth final. Semi-final shoot-out hero Ser- gio Romero will hope for another clean sheet, assisted by the back four of Pablo Zabaleta, Marcos Rojo, Martin Demichelis and Ezequiel Garay. Argentina not only hope to bounce back from the lost 1990 final, they also lost to Germany in the last two quarter-finals 2006 (penalties) and 2010 (2006). "This (the final) will be the most important match in our career," said Mascherano, who played in the last two meetings. "We're playing a final and we don't just want to give it away. We can do it, because this team has proved that it can do it, and it is worth a try." Midfielder Maxi Rodriguez said Argentina was not nec- essarily out to win pretty be- cause all that counts is the trophy. "You find yourself in the fi- nal and the important thing is to win it. If you can play well, all the better, but I don't care at all: the impor- tant thing is to win. This is the match we dreamed of," he said. The 2014 World Cup Get all the latest updates resilience in World Cup final Rio de Janeiro's iconic Maracana stadium witnessed in 1950 a major football trauma for Brazil. Now, 64 years later, an Argentinian win today's final against Germany could add insult to injury and curse Maracana for decades to come Rio's Maracana stadium: a Germany win or a curse A Germany win Sunday is the last chance for Rio de Janeiro's Marac- ana to escape becoming a stadium with a curse. Sixty-four yearslater, Brazil's most iconic stadium could see arch-rivals Argentina do a lap of honour before tens of thousands of fans in blue and white on the stands. In the 1950 World Cup, Bra- zil needed a draw in the decisive match at Maracana to become world champions, but they lost 2-1 to Uruguay. In 2014, the stadium will need to put its honour in the hands of Germany, precisely the team that crushed Brazil's hopes with a 7-1 thrashing in the semi-finals, the country's worst-ever defeat. "The nightmare gets worse," the daily O Dia wrote after Argen- tina's win over the Netherlands in the semi-finals. "Besides no longer being able to dream of our sixth World Cup title, we Brazilians will need to live with the real possibil- ity of a title for our greatest rivals on football's biggest stage." Brazil buried the trauma of 1950 under the weight of five world championship titles, more than any other country. However, Bra- zilians dreamed of making the most of their second chance to clean up the image of the Rio sta- dium. "I think the only World Cup that can serve as consolation for hav- ing lost at Maracana is one won at Maracana," Brazilian diplomat Marcos de Azambuja, one of the 200,000 spectators who attended the final against Uruguay, told dpa. Azambuja, who was for years Brazilian ambassador to Argen- tina, admitted ahead of the World Cup that an Argentinian win in the final "would be a tragedy with- out limits." Prestigious sports analyst Juca Kfouri, however, noted that "Ma- racana is the symbol of Brazilian football and will remain so." "We should not tear it down, not even if (Argentina's Lionel) Messi scores three goals," Kfouri warned. Maracana's very name evokes football and legend, even though the stadium has long lost what made it really special. Just like Brazil's trademark " jogo bonito," the romantic aura of the stadium that is set to host Sunday's final vanished in its transition to mo- dernity. "I think it lost its soul, just like Wembley lost its soul," Kfouri told dpa, summing up the feeling of most of those who saw the old stadium. "Maracana at that time was in- timidating not for its architectural features but basically for the hu- man idea, for the mass of people," recalled Azambuja. "There was no space between people, there was no way out or in." That daunting atmosphere be- longs to the past. The capacity of the Rio stadium has been reduced to 78,000 spectators. Entrances are wide and safe. Corridors are broad and clean. Changing-rooms are luxurious. There are VIP are- as. And the stands are full of com- fortable folding seats in soft tones of yellow and blue. Inside, Maracana is not very dif- ferent from Munich's Allianz Are- na, Johannesburg's Soccer City or London's new Wembley. However, only Mexico City's Es- tadio Azteca has so far hosted two World Cup finals, something only a great temple of football can as- pire to. It will take a long time for Bra- zil to have the chance to redeem Maracana. In the meantime, Bra- zilians pin all their hopes on Ger- many.