Germany Wins the World Cup
            By Michael Lewis 


            Monday, October 13—

		Here's a lesson for every youth soccer player, 
            for the team's biggest star and the player who sits on the bench: 
            Anyone can be a hero, even in the biggest match of her life.
            	Take, for example, what happened in Germany's dramatic 2-1 victory 
            over Sweden in the Women's World Cup final on Sunday in California.
            Nia Kuenzer, a little-used substitute, came off the bench to score 
            the winning goal in overtime to give Germany the win and its first 
            world championship.
            	The 23-year-old backup defender had played only 64 minutes in Cup 
            games before entering the match with two minutes remaining in 
            regulation. She headed in a 30-yard free kick by Renate Lingor past 
            goalkeeper Caroline Joensson for only her second international goal 
            in 33 games. The winning goal happened eight minutes into overtime.
            	"She's one of the strongest headers on our team," Prinz said of 
            Kuenzer, who outleaped a taller Swedish player from point-blank 
            range.
            	"Every player dreams of shooting the decisive goal in the World 
            Cup," said Kuenzer. "After I scored, I was totally confused. I 
            wasn't sure of what happened and then my teammates are jumping on 
            top of me and we are all on the ground."
            	The game was a closely contested battle as both teams had 
            opportunities to win it in regulation.
            	"It was very close," Germany coach Tina Theune-Meyer said. "We had 
            chances. They had chances. We were very lucky."
            	Striker Birgit Prinz, who won the Golden Shoe as the top goal scorer 
            and the Golden Ball as the best player in voting by the media, 
            agreed.
            	"In the end, we were a little more lucky," she said. "It wasn't that 
            we were the better team."

            A Bad Break?

            	The Swedes felt they were unlucky, contestin