Germany has a habit of winning the World Cup at symbolic moments. Victory in 1954 – captured in the film, The Miracle of Bern – allowed Germans a moment of pride and redemption after defeat and disgrace in 1945. A second victory in 1974 went to a West Germany whose “economic miracle” had, by then, allowed it to regain its status as one of the world’s most advanced nations. Victory in 1990, just months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, caught the joy and potential of a soon-to-be united Germany.
德國有在具有象徵意義的時刻贏得世界盃的慣例。1954年世界盃奪冠——被拍成電影《伯爾尼的奇蹟》(The Miracle of Bern)——讓德國人在1945年的戰敗和恥辱之後迎來了自豪和救贖的時刻。1974年西德贏得第二次世界盃冠軍,當時該國創造的「經濟奇蹟」已讓其重新成爲全球最發達的國家之一。在「柏林圍牆」倒塌僅僅數月之後的1990年世界盃上奪冠,則正好趕上了德國即將統一帶來的喜悅和光明前景。