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Icon of perseverance: Mario Götze
Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
I actually wanted to write about the smell of losing, about that moment when you bury your face in the grass: defeat smells of grass.
But then I had to think of Mario Götze.
No matter how the game ends tonight: Mario Götze is a winner.
He can't lose anymore.
His return to the national team after more than 3,000 days without a World Cup match is bigger than his goal in the Maracana final.
Eight years ago, at the age of 22, he saw the Brazilian sky with a goal that was actually not feasible, impossible take-off, impossible angle, impossible moment.
But the years that followed the title, the years on the bench, the years of illness, rumors and unfortunate transfers showed Mario Götze that when you're going through hell you really just have to keep going.
He fought back like Rocky Balboa.
Now he's playing for Eintracht Frankfurt, which alone makes you happy, but he's playing like he used to, the season of his life, the fans love him, so Mario Götze is very close to heaven again.
Get through this strange desert tournament somehow, Mario, come home, the Champions League is waiting there.
Mario Götze, icon of perseverance.
