MATCH PREVIEW
After 32 days of vintage World Cup action, the stage is set on Sunday for a dramatic final act.
Will it be Germany's all-star cast taking the curtain call at the Maracana? Can leading man Thomas Muller become the first player to win back-to-back Golden Boots? Or will Lionel Messi steal the show and inspire Argentina to a third World Cup triumph?
Muller is Germany's leading scorer with five goals at this tournament, but Joachim Low's men are anything but a one-man band.
A further seven Germans have also scored, and the likes of Miroslav Klose, Toni Kroos, Mesut Ozil and Andre Schurrle could just as easily prove Maracana match-winners.
Argentina arrived in Brazil with, by common consent, the most potent forward line in world football.
But so far - Messi aside - their attacking players have failed to justify their "Fantastic Four" tag.
Fitness problems have made it tough for Sergio Aguero to shine, while Gonzalo Higuain and Angel Di Maria have managed just one goal apiece.
Di Maria has nonetheless been nominated by Fifa's Technical Study Group as a contender for the Golden Ball.
But it remains to be seen whether his recovery from a thigh injury has been swift enough for him to make an impact in the final.
But while Argentina's attack has disappointed, their defence - pinpointed as a potential Achilles' heel before the tournament - has stood firm.
Goalkeeper Sergio Romero spent almost all of the 2013-14 season on the bench with Monaco, but has kept a tournament-high four clean sheets in Brazil.
And the 27-year-old believes it is Argentina's battling spirit which will be crucial against Germany.
"We will remember what the champions of 1978 and 1986 achieved but we will also try to achieve glory by the fight and heart of this team," he said.
"Maybe for many people it is not the dream final, because they wanted us to play Brazil, but it will be a fantastic game," he added.
German fans at the Maracana will be hugely outnumbered by their Argentine counterparts, but they could enjoy support from many Brazilians.
The locals' attempts to get over defeat to Germany have not been helped by the presence of approximately 100,000 Argentina fans in Rio - many raucously asking Brazilians "how it feels" to concede seven times via a popular terrace song.
So while Argentina represent the last obstacle to a European side winning a World Cup in the Americas for the first time, don't expect too much continental solidarity from Brazilians on Sunday.
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