Amazing match, with both teams playing their hearts out. Tend to agree with Docbop that, within the rules of the professional game, winning takes precedence over everything else.
In the interests of fairness, I recall an infamous Argentina vs England WC encounter in 1986. Terry Fenwick an England player remembers defending against Maradona this way: “I belted him two or three times. I thought ‘that’s him done’. He was off the pitch for four-and-a-half minutes after I whacked him once.”
So those hack jobs didn’t just come from one side, I can tell you.
For me, the difference between champions and also-rans is fairly simple: the former are singularly talented, single-mindedly hardworking, and can take the heat of elite competition. They win, and often come back stronger - then they win again. Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina and Uruguay have done this, as has France. And no doubt they’ll do so again.
The latter are almost always simply not good enough, however hard they work. So instead they complain: the ref favoured the other guys, they had better gear, the wind wasn’t right, Mars wasn’t aligned with Saturn, I didn’t get to call my dog first. Urgh.
Can’t remember where I first heard this but it’s an extended paraphrase that underscores my point: Regardless of circumstance, genius always does what it must; talent often does what it should; mediocrity sometimes does what it can.