We shall be forever thankful to Mario Gotze for saving us from penalty-kick conclusion

How nice it was for Mario Gotze of Germany to score late in extra time to make sure the World Cup final wasn’t decided by penalty kicks.

Gotze controlled a cross from Andre Schurrle with his chest before smacking a close-range, left-foot blast past Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero in the 114th minute to give Germany a dramatic 1-0 victory in Sunday’s championship match in Rio de Janeiro.

I’m sure there were many people like me fearing the solid match would be decided by penalty kicks – one of the dumbest ways to ever decide a title.

Can you imagine an NBA Finals game going two overtime periods and then everybody stopping and deciding it by making – or missing – free throws? Or the Super Bowl reaching a point in which the action is halted and the outcome is determined by kicking extra points?

Obviously, Dwight Howard wouldn’t be needed to participate in the free-throw shooting and could just depart the premises. And, um, how confused would Donovan McNabb get over the extra-point twist?

Thankfully, the soccer match was decided before we had to endure those shenanigans as Germany celebrates its first World Cup title since 1990 and its fourth overall.

Manuel Neuer played superbly in goal and the Germany defensive tactics made it difficult for Argentina star Lionel Messi to operate. Messi came up empty on his few opportunities, including a wide shot when the game was scoreless.

In fact, Messi had two late chances but headed the first attempt high and then his late free kick was so high over the goal that it undoubtedly landed somewhere near Panama.

Then again, I’m glad Messi didn’t sneak in a late goal. Then we would have gone to penalty kicks and we just can’t have that.

Because that would be like halting a World Series game after 12 innings and deciding it with stolen-base attempts.

Ummmmmm, thank you very much Mario Gotze.

Seahawks-Broncos beat down has nothing on the stunning way Germany annihilated Brazil

Wasn’t sure if I would see another World Cup match this summer after the United States was eliminated from the festivities.

Figured I’d seen enough 1-0 games and I hate the fact an event of his stature has matches decided by these silly shootouts. That would be like the NFL allowing a Super Bowl to be decided via extra points?

But there I was watching the semifinal match on Tuesday and I witnessed something that I figured was pretty much impossible considering this elite level of soccer.

I saw this: Germany 7, Brazil 1.

I’m no soccer expert but I do know this – that is way more of a beat down than what the Seattle Seahawks put on the Denver Broncos in February’s Super Bowl.

I can’t figure out exactly how much more – 50 times more? Perhaps 100 times more?

Wait, this was BRAZIL getting torched like an elementary school team would if it played the Seattle Sounders.

This might be 1,000 times the beat down that Seattle put on Peyton Manning while silencing all signs of “O-MA-HA!”

Maybe the most accurate way to put it this: Germany’s stunning performance might be the best in history, regardless of sport. And Brazil’s showing – use whatever adjective for awful you prefer.

So many times, a team scores a goal 10 minutes into the game and the pressure ratchets on the other squad even though there is still nearly 80 minutes to play. You know, it is kind of hard to score in this sport.

But the goal by Thomas Muller in the 11th minute was just the beginning of a historic onslaught in which Germany scored five times in an 18-minute span.

Miroslav Klose scored in the 23rd minute, Toni Kroos tallied in both the 24th and 26th minutes and Sami Khedira made it 5-0 in the 29th minute. This was kind of like an NBA team losing by 100 early in the second quarter and you wouldn’t have been surprised if the Brazilians just walked off the pitch at halftime.

Andre Schurrle added goals for Germany in the 69th and 79th minutes to make it a 7-0 edge and you could just feel the embarrassment level soaring higher and higher. Oscar scored for Brazil in the 90th minute and that tally reminded you of the feeling of watching a match between six-year-old girls – when the losing team scores just before the end of an 11-1 loss because it was allowed to use more players than the other squad.

In other words, this one was historic flop for Brazil.

So glad I was tuned in – because this result will be recalled for ages as you just don’t see these types of shellackings in soccer. Especially at the World Cup level.

Suddenly Seahawks 43, Broncos 8 doesn’t sound so lopsided. At least not compared to Germany versus Brazil.