To this day, in his mind, his side were the best team. "We knew we were much better than them, we were not afraid at all." Johan Cruyff shakes his head when thinking back to the day his Dutch side lost in the 1974 World Cup final to hosts West Germany. The shake, however, is not full of bitterness, bewilderness or even disappointment. Cruyff didnt need a trophy to tell him his team was the best. After all, for the next 40 years, all he and the rest of us have heard is how good that team was. It speaks volumes about Cruyff, and indeed the Dutch philosophy, that they were happy to be the Peoples Champions, rather than the World Champions. Greatness, instead, is used to describe the team that came from behind to beat them that day, a team featuring stars like Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller and Paul Breitner. Sixteen years later, in Rome, West Germany became World Champions once again. Great players like Lothar Matthaus, Andreas Brehme and Jurgen Klinsmann helped to dispose of an extremely average Argentina team. It was only one game of football. The same length of a match that can happen at your local park. Yet, despite it being an awful match, it accomplished something so important. It was able to separate greatness and mediocrity, ensuring the chronicles of football history were told the way they should. Since then five other teams would go on to win the World Cup in their own different ways. Some were better than others, but all of them deserved to win it and were better than their opponents. In Brazil we are now down to the final four. It has been a great World Cup, full of great moments, many of them coming from great players. However, where greatness has yet to be sprinkled is upon any of the teams. Brazil, Germany, Argentina and Netherlands is a wonderful final group to have in the semi-finals. Indeed, it is the first time ever that the two South American powerhouses have been at this stage in the same World Cup. All four are true giants in the game, without question, but so far the 2014 versions have been far from great. They all head into the final two laps of this World Cup knowing one of them will become the champions when they cross the line for the final time next Sunday inside the famous Maracana. All four have shown glimpses of individual greatness. Netherlands, who had to come from behind against Spain, Australia and Mexico, are inexperienced in defence and have significant weaknesses in midfield but they have lethal, clinical, great finishers who have helped them get this far although Robin Van Persie has gotten progressively worse as the tournament has gone on. Argentina saved their best performance for their latest victory, a 1-0 quarter-final defeat of Belgium. However, it was far from an outstanding performance. Coach Alejandro Sabella will be glad some players stepped up in key areas that badly needed to be improved but they remain a team that is very vulnerable in defence and the collective balance of the side is still nowhere near complete. Lionel Messi has been great at this World Cup, scoring or assisting on five of their eight goals so far, but Argentina have benefitted from a very kind draw and, other than at Messi, it would be wrong to place any kind of greatness on anyone else at the moment. In fact, it has been a clinic in countering the argument that Messi himself must carry Argentina to glory, showing glaring examples of how average the team really is. The same can be said for Brazil, whose two truly great players will not feature for them in the semi-finals. Thiago Silva (suspension) and Neymar (back injury) will be a huge loss for the hosts against Germany. However, what this allows us all to do is to sit back and see if greatness can be found by others. It will be up to the other eleven players for Brazil to see if they can reach the final in front of an expectant home crowd. The Brazilian public often demands to see winners, while being entertained at the same time, and so far the team has only managed to, barely, win. With two games to go to win an historic World Cup on home soil it appears, based on the quarter-final crowd, that the winning ugly method is fine as long as they keep jumping the hurdles towards greatness. However, more often than not, winning ugly and losing usually meet at the same point. Eventually. Luiz Felipe Scolaris side have not been anywhere close to great at this World Cup but have two games left to save their reputation and cast aside any labels that have been thrown at them so far. Standing in their way is a Germany team who has also showed some significant flaws getting to the last four. Their captain Philipp Lahm hasnt been at his best, in either position he has been played at, while Mesut Ozil and Mario Gotze have been dubbed the invisible duo by the German press while coach Joachin Low remains undecided on who plays up front. However, their latest victory, a narrow 1-0 win over France in the quarter-finals, did give us a glimpse into what could be a victorious German team going forward. The balance of the midfield is better with the outstanding Sami Khedira in it, Bastian Schweinsteiger is starting to look more and more fit and influential, while Mats Hummels returned from the flu and ensured the back four were excellent for the first time. Make no mistake, this is not a great team. Yet. However, of the final four, they look the closest to such a label at the moment. It is a team that relies heavily on the influence of its Bayern Munich players, winners who have succeeded at the highest level of the game. It is a team that has learned how to lose at the international level and modeled themselves on past victors, Spain. Spain are on their holidays now but they have played an enormous part of what is happening in Brazil. Four years ago, at this stage, they were preparing for a game against the aforementioned Germans, after finally getting over the hump of the World Cup quarter-finals, a hurdle that had knocked them out so many times before. Their run to the trophy in South Africa showed us all what greatness was. This time we have had to wait much longer for it to show up. With one week left to go at this World Cup we still need to be patient. Four teams in a knock-out stage tournament where only one will reign supreme. Thankfully, we know from past years that at least the World Cup will hand us a deserved winner. There is still time for a Peoples Champion to be crowned but there is no time for more than one team to become great. It has taken some time but it is coming. Vapormax Flyknit Rea .com) - Oregon wasnt going to let Arizona ruin its national title dreams for a second straight season. Vapormax 97 Sverige . Heck, we might just miss the BCS. Maybe? It sort of worked out this season. Top-ranked Florida State (13-0) was the only team to get through the regular season unbeaten, and the Seminoles did it in dominating fashion. http://www.airvapormaxsverige.com/vapormax-plus-rea.html. PETERSBURG, Fla. Nya Vapormax . -- Ricky Romeros comeback bid hit another road bump Tuesday in an ugly 18-4 Jays loss to a Detroit Tigers split squad. Nike Vapormax Rea . The incident occurred at 6:28 of the first period in Anaheims 6-3 home win over Dallas on Sunday. Garbutt left the penalty box and skated at Penner before leaving his skates to deliver a check.ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - The Denver Broncos locker room was filled with more banter and bellows than usual Monday. Their early bye is over and Danny Trevathan is back.The teams leading tackler last season, Trevathan missed the first three games after fracturing his left leg just below his knee during an Aug. 12 practice at training camp.Hes expected to make his 2014 debut Sunday when the Broncos (2-1) host the Arizona Cardinals (3-0).Man, were so happy to have him back, linebacker Nate Irving said, raising his voice and enunciating each word so that Trevathan could hear his high praise two lockers away. Hes the heartbeat of the defence, baby!Trevathan glanced at Irving and shook his head.But it feels good to see him out here running around, Irving continued. Its pretty good to know that hes healthy and everything. Getting that extra guy back out there is pretty good for us. It. Boosts. The. Team. Morale.When Trevathan spun around, he was surrounded by a phalanx of cameras and teasing teammates.Give me a shout-out, Danny! implored defensive lineman Malik Jackson from behind the scrum.Trevathan had other ideas.He slithered past the hoard, saying he had somewhere else to be.Fierce between the sidelines but shy in public, hell make his statements on the football field, just like he did in 2013.The third-year pro out of Kentucky is coming off a breakout season in which he led the Broncos with 124 tackles and intercepted three passes before collecting a team-best two dozen tackles in the playoffs.If all continues to go well this week, Trevathan will return to his starting spot on the weak side next to Irving and opposite strong side linebacker Von Miller against the undefeated Cardinals.Brandon Marshall, who collected a team-high 29 tackles in his absence, will return to playing alongside Trevathan in nickel situations or spelling him in the base defence whenever Trevathan needs a breather.I thought Brandon Marshall stepped in and did a real good job, coach John Fox said.dddddddddddd Weve got some youth at that position, there were errors made, but all in all, just like our record, I think, two of the situations better than the third. Well welcome back Danny because he was one of our better players and its good to have him back.Denvers defence saved the day with game-clinching last-minute plays against Indianapolis and Kansas City but couldnt stop Russell Wilsons 80-yard TD drive in overtime two weekends ago.With Trevathans return to health, the Broncos have the defence that had co-ordinator Jack Del Rio so excited this summer, one that boosts star power in Miller, Chris Harris Jr., Aqib Talib, DeMarcus Ware, Rahim Moore and Terrance Knighton.Its a huge deal, Knighton said. I told him that today. Im happy to have him back. He brings a lot more attitude to the defence. Its not that B-Marsh didnt, its just Dannys more of a feisty guy. It will be good to have him back. Its good that Brandon got that experience while Danny was hurt. So, itll allow our linebackers to rotate and have guys that they can trust go in and play.Marshall said he feels like he not only held things together during Trevathans absence but showed the Broncos they can count on him to play a bigger role.I thought I surprised a lot of people, Marshall said. I surprised coaches, fans, my teammates, I thought. Im not really sure if I had the full support of everybody, but I think going forward, I will a€” either as a backup player, or if I come in on nickel packages. So I thought I did well. I think I showed enough to get the support of everybody.Notes: LB Lerentee McCray (knee) and S David Bruton (ankle) sat out of practice.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL___Follow AP Pro Football Writer Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton ' ' '