Best of Soccer in 2014: Where do Real Madrid, Germany Rank Among Best Teams of 2014?

By David Salazar & Edwin Molina Dec 26 2014, 12:40 PM EST

Everyone loves to honor the individuals. There is simply something riveting about idolizing someone for rising above the rest.

But ultimately, the collective may be even more important in some cases and nowhere is this more apparent than in team sports. And of the team sports, none relies more on team that soccer. As part of the "Best of Soccer in 2014" feature series, writers David Salazar and Edwin Molina now highlight their team of year.

Los Invencibles
By David Salazar

At the start of 2014, Real Madrid was on a nice run, but few saw the team as a perennial powerhouse. There were simply too many question marks regarding the team's ability to deal with more physical foes. Atletico shut them down in the league and Barcelona's speed had its way with Madrid's defense.

But the team somehow found a way to prove doubters wrong. After annihilating Schalke in the opening round of the Champions League, overcoming a scare against Dortmund and then besting Bayern Munich in stunning fashion, Los Blancos accomplished two exhilarating feats.

First, the team took home the Copa del Rey by shutting down its biggest rival in Barcelona. And then in dramatic fashion, the team conquered La Decima against its crosstown rivals.

It was a historic season that featured a number of individual honors, but represented Carlo Ancelotti's ability to hone his players' skills and transform them into a champion.

But his greatest challenge was yet to come.

The summer saw the influx of more talent and caused an imbalance in the roster's flexibility. Xabi Alonso and Angel Di Maria were thus sacrificed to accommodate Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez. And then the team struggled. First, it was an unimpressive performance against Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup and then came the two losses against its crosstown rivals and Real Sociedad.

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There were complaints about defending setpieces, Iker Casillas' form, the lack of a true holding midfielder and the overall imbalance in the lineup.

But Ancelotti refused to move away from his aim and, starting with a 5-1 annihilation of FC Basel, the team has gone on to win 22 straight games in all competitions. Along the way, Cristiano Ronaldo has put up 32 goals to start the year and the team just looks unstoppable. Goaltending concerns are now a thing of the past and the defense is as strong as ever. Concerns about depth have also evaporated with the emergence of Isco and some impressive moments from Asier Illarramendi.

This team leaves 2014 with four trophies including the famed Decima and no signs of slowing down. Real Madrid was undoubtedly the best team of 2014 and it wasn't even close.

Runner-up: Winning the World Cup is no easy feat, so the World Champions Germany, who destroyed Brazil 7-1 in the semifinals, are easy picks here.

World Champions
By Edwin Molina

It may seem like the easy pick to choose the German national team as the "team of the year" and yet that undermines their accomplishment at the 2014 World Cup champions.

Germany became the first European team in World Cup history to win in the Americas, which may not sound like a huge deal. But playing "on the road" in the Americas has proven to be difficult for European teams. Czechoslovakia could not win it all in 1962 playing in Santiago, Chile. Italy faltered in Mexico City in 1970. The West German national also fell apart against Diego Maradona's Argentina team in Mexico City in 1986 with the legendary Franz Beckenbauer at the helm. Roberto Baggio choked under the California sun against Brazil in 1994.

Which makes this World Cup run by Germany a special feat, winning in convincing manner, in the sweltering heat of a soccer-mad nation. Germany's championship run started with what many considered the "Group of Death," playing against Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal team, former Germany head coach Jurgen Klinsmann and the U.S. national team, and Ghana -- who had won the 2014 African Nations Championship earlier in the year.

Germany showed they were not to be trifled with in the opening game after bashing Portugal 4-0 on the strength of Bayern Munich striker Thomas Müller's hat trick. While the Germans had a tougher time against Ghana, playing them to a 2-2 draw, they seemed to regain their form against the scrappy American team, with Müller leading the way scoring the lone goal of the match and defeating "the Kaiser's" USA squad 1-0.

Germany would need overtime to defeat Algeria, tied 0-0 until André Schürrle turned things around for them, first scoring early in the 92nd minute and later assisting Mesut Özil in the 120th minute to move on to the quarterfinals. Mats Hummels' would put Germany up 1-0 in the 13th-minute while Manuel Neuer would pitch one of his four shutouts from the keeper position in the quarterfinal against rival France en route to their four consecutive World Cup semi-final appearances.

It was in the semi-finals where Germany wrote a masterpiece of epic proportions that would make Johann Sebastian Bach proud. Playing against the host country, who was looking to win their sixth World Cup, Brazil could only look on helplessly and in disbelief as the Germans silenced the crowd rather quickly. Muller set things off for Germany scoring in the 11th minute before Miroslav Klose scored in the 23rd minute -- his 16th career World Cup goal, breaking Brazilian legend Ronaldo's all-time scoring record.

The barrage of goals would continue with Toni Kroos scoring twice within a two-minute stretch in the 24th and 26th minute. Not to be left behind, Sami Khedira would put another goal into the back of the net in the 29th minute. Two more goals by Schürrle late in the game would eliminate Brazil with their tails between their legs as Germany dismantled Brazil 7-1 in what would be the Germans' opus of the 2014 World Cup.

The finals, against Lionel Messi and Argentina, would be an intense affair that would go into overtime. But Germany proved to be too talented and too a deep a squad that was going up against a team that was too dependent on Messi's heroics to win the World Cup. Mario Götze, who came off the bench in substitution for Klose, would nail the game-winner in the 113th minute to give Germany its fourth World Cup title and their first since reunification of East and West Germany.

The Germans would not even need Borussia Dortmund's Marco Reus, who was injured prior to the start of the tournament. Neuer would win the Golden Glove Award, after producing four shutouts in seven games, while Müller would come in second to Colombia's James Rodriguez for the Golden Boot Award with five goals. Germany built a machine that could find scoring from a number of sources, compared to some of their other counterparts, whether it was Klose, Schürrle, Götze, Özil, Khedira or Kroos. Germany defeated the architect of their soccer program who left them for the land of opportunity, two Ballon d'Or winners in Messi and Ronaldo while completely silencing 58,141 soccer fanatics at Estádio Mineirão as they steamrolled the most storied national team in World Cup history in rather deadly fashion.

It may seem like the easy pick to choose the German national team as the "team of the year," but it is hard to argue against them considering the efficient manner in which they dominated the world stage in 2014.

Honorable mention: It is tempting to slide in La Liga's Real Madrid after winning "La Decima" into this slot, but it would be a disservice to not give English Premier League team Chelsea FC some due respect. Jose Mourinho's return to "The Blues" has been a huge a success. While Chelsea failed to win the EPL title after trading first place with Manchester City and Liverpool during the 2013-2014 EPL season, they had a solid run in the 2013-2014 Champions League tournament defeating Turkish champs Galatasaray and Ligue 1 champions Paris St-Germain before losing to 2013-2014 La Liga titleholders Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals.

Chelsea would start the 2014-2015 EPL season setting a blistering pace, going unbeaten in their first 22 matches before losing to Newcastle United on Dec. 6. They are also off to a strong start in the 2014-2015 Champions League tournament and look like one of the stronger sides going into the Round of 16. Chelsea is currently at the top of the EPL standings as the team heads into Christmas with 42 points, three points ahead of defending champions Manchester City and 10 points ahead of third-place Manchester United. While deemed as arrogant by his critics and haters, Mourinho has had Chelsea clicking all year and may be a force to watch out for going into 2015.