Sports Desk :Germany and Argentina will revive memories of the World Cup finals gone by at the Maracana tonight (Sunday), with both sides remembering the history of the fixture with mixed emotions.Both their last World Cup triumphs came against each other, with Germany crowned champions after defeating the Argentines in 1990, while the 1986 final being the last time the South Americans won the trophy after edging West Germany in Mexico.Joachim Loew’s men have had the upper hand in their most recent World Cup contests, defeating Argentina on penalties on home soil in 2006, before thumping Maradona’s men 4-0 in South Africa.Should they triumph at the Maracana, Germany will make history as the first ever European side to win a World Cup on Latin American soil. Despite their annhilation of the hosts, native support in Brazil is likely to be behind Die Mannschaft in favour of Brazil’s nearest and bitterest rivals.All eyes will be on Lionel Messi, who at the age of 27, will be playing in his first World Cup final. Argentines will be hoping that the greatest player of his generation will be able to summon the spirit of Diego Maradona and honour the memory of recently deceased Alfredo Di Stefano by leading them to victory on the soil of their bitterest rivals.Germany have won the World Cup three times whereas Argentina have triumphed twice.Ever since the fall of the Berlin wall, both sides have competed with each other eight times where Argentina won four matches and picked up just one defeat which occurred at the last World Cup.Germany striker Miroslav Klose became the all-time top scorer in the history of the World Cup last Tuesday as he now counts 16 goals in the competition, one more than Brazil legend Ronaldo.Bayern Munich player Thomas Muller has picked up 10 goals and six assists in 12 World Cup appearances.If Argentina win then they will become the oldest World Cup winners ever with an average age of just under 29 – Italy’s 2006 squad holds the record.The Albiceleste’s superstar Lionel Messi surpassed Diego Maradona in international appearances last Wednesday and now the Barcelona forward will be picking up his 93 national cap.shops on Omar Mukhtar, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, where she had hoped to buy special foods for the holiday.”The economy is very bad and as you can see the shops are all closed and the people are all in their homes,” she said.At least 127 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its operation five days ago, Palestinian sources say.The UN says three-quarters of those are civilian deaths.There is no sign of both sides agreeing on a ceasefire, despite intense diplomacy at the United Nations.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that his country will resist foreign pressure to halt its operations.”The objective is to restore quiet to the cities of Israel, and I intend to achieve this objective,” he said.Thousands of Israeli troops have massed along the border with Gaza amid warnings by Israel that it is prepared to launch a ground offensive.To the outside world the Gaza rockets may seem ineffective – partly because many are homemade and partly because they’re hopelessly overmatched by Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile defence system.But Israeli civilians judge the rockets by the intent behind them and not by their military effectiveness. They are grimly familiar with the ritual of running for shelter with their children when they hear a 15-second warning. They expect their government to put a stop to it.The problem is that there’s no easy way of doing that.Even if you believe in the myth of the accuracy of modern weapons systems, you have to accept that air raids are going to kill innocent people.The Palestinian health ministry says in addition to those killed, at least 940 people – mainly civilians – have been injured in Israel’s Operation Protective Edge since it began on Tuesday.The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said earlier that 77% of the people killed in Gaza had been civilians.Israel said on Saturday morning it had hit over 60 “terror targets” overnight and had carried out 1,160 strikes since the start of its offensive. It said Hamas had fired 689 rockets in the first four days.The rockets have caused damage and some injuries in Israel.A senior Arab league official said Arab foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting in Cairo on Monday to discuss the continued Israeli offensive and measures to urge the international community to pressure Israel.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas requested the meeting, which was approved by several Arab foreign ministers in coordination with the Arab League. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief journalists.Meanwhile, the Palestinians and their international supporters are discussing a United Nations draft resolution that would condemn all violence against civilians in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and call for “an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire.” However, the Palestinian draft makes no mention of the firing of hundreds of rockets into Israel by Hamas, likely making it unacceptable to the United States if it was introduced in the UN Security Council.
