Mario Goetze stood beside the World Cup trophy in New York on 24 June and felt 2014 come rushing back. At the FIFA Museum in Rockefeller Center, Manhattan, the man who scored the most important goal of his career stopped to study his own reflection in the prize he helped Germany lift in Rio de Janeiro 12 years ago.
“Standing here in front of the real one is obviously different,” Goetze told Reuters. “It’s just positive, to see it again.”
A goal that grew with time
Goetze was 22 when he volleyed home Andre Schuerrle’s cross in extra time of the 2014 World Cup final to make Germany the first European side to win the tournament in South America. Argentina were broken. Lionel Messi wept at the Maracana. Goetze celebrated, young and unaware of what the moment would come to mean.
Now 34 and playing for Eintracht Frankfurt, he admits the weight of it only settled in gradually.
“I didn’t realise in that moment, or even afterwards, what that goal meant because I was so young,” he said. “Now that a few years went by I realise, okay, that was a special moment for the country, for myself, for the national team. It’s just great to be here in this surrounding. For me and my career it was phenomenal.”
Walking through the exhibition, which features memorabilia from every World Cup including the boots he wore in the final, Goetze reflected on a childhood dream fulfilled at the highest possible stage.
“It was my first World Cup and to deliver such a goal was really something. I think I dreamt about it when I was young, and it’s just amazing.”
The Messi photo he wishes he could take back
Not every memory from that night in Rio is comfortable. Shortly after Germany’s celebrations, Goetze posted a photograph of himself alongside Messi, whose dream had just been shattered. Asked about it now, he did not flinch from the truth.
“It was not the best timing,” he said. “Maybe that’s the worst timing after the game. But in the end, I was just a big fan of him, what he has done for football and everything he’s still doing. I really like him as a player.”
Messi eventually lifted the trophy with Argentina in 2022 and, now 39, is still the dominant figure at the 2026 tournament, leading the Golden Boot race with five goals after a hat-trick in his opening match and a brace in the second.
“It’s unbelievable,” Goetze said. “That he can still deliver these things, I think he’s special. In the end, probably he’s the only one, maybe with Ronaldo, who can achieve these kinds of things. They play now for more than 20 years. So it’s just crazy.”
His tips for 2026
Goetze said it was too early for firm predictions but named France, Argentina, England and Germany as sides capable of going all the way.
“In the end, it’s the small things,” he said. “You have to have a certain amount of luck to go through and then build that momentum. From the quarter-finals on it will be interesting.”
