Argentina captain Lionel Messi has blamed his side's loss in the World Cup final to the poor finishing of the strikers, who missed at least two clear chances to score.
Germany beat the Argentines 1-0 with a goal in the extra time by Mario Goetze, but Argentina strikers Gonzalo Higuain and Rodrigo Palacio had a chance each where they just had to beat the Germany goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation. However, they failed to do so, which cost Argentina dearly.
Messi himself was guilty of shooting a ball wide when he looked like giving Argentina the lead.
"We deserved more and that's why we are sad. The strikers missed the chances we had. It's a bad feeling for all of us because we couldn't win the cup and take it to our people," Messi said after the game. "We haven't been in the semi-finals for many years and the fact that we played the final and the way we played it it's something to be proud of.
"It's painful to lose it by so little. We were very close of a big change for this national team but we couldn't finish it," he added.
Argentina reached the final beating the Netherlands on penalties in the semis, where Germany hammered hosts brazil 7-1. Messi, though, felt an extra day of rest did a world of good to the Germans who played the first semi-final a day earlier than Argentina.
"I was OK physically as were the rest of us," he added. "The fact that we played a day after them and that we played extra-time against a team that was able to rest in the last minutes of their semi-finals affected our finish of the game. A difference of one day is big at this stage."
Messi, though, got a consolation prize as he was awarded the 'Golden Ball' for being selected as the Best Player of the Tournament.
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