Germany managed to successfully defend their women's World Cup title against Brazil after they defeated the South Americans 2-0 in Shanghai on Sunday.

The winning goals came in the second half from former World Footballer of the Year Birgit Prinz and from Simone Laudehr.

The Germans scored the opening goal in the 52nd minute after Sandra Smisek controlled a long pass in the Brazilian half of the field, found space and passed the ball to Prinz, whose shot slipped past the goal line under the jumping Brazilian goalkeeper Andreia.

World Footballer of the Year in 2007, Brazil’s striker Marta was very close to scoring the equalizer for the South Americans in the 64th minute. The referee awarded a penalty after Cristiane was brought down in the German penalty box, but Germany's Nadine Angerer won the nervous duel with Marta and stopped her shot after diving to her right.

The Brazilians, who matched their best performance at the World Cup so far by winning the silver medals, were persistent and put pressure on the German defense. But the Germans held their ground and goalkeeper Angerer was in top form as she managed to pull off a fantastic save from Marta’s free kick in the 68th minute.

With four minutes left of the regular time, Germany scored the second goal to give a hard blow to the South Americans’ morale. Laudehr put it past the Brazilian goalkeeper with a header from a corner executed by Renate Lingor.

"Germany deserved the victory, but now we are looking towards the Olympic Games in Beijing next year and then hopefully we can be in the final again and possibly win.”

"I think maybe we were expecting a bit too much, especially after being the better side in the first 30 minute. I think we thought that we would win and did not do enough to actually win,” said Marta.

Germany’s goalkeeper Angerer, who maintained a clean sheet for six games at the tournament, broke Walter Zenga's world record for not conceding a goal. The Italian went 517 minutes without being beaten, Angerer stands at 539 minutes.

"The team grew together and I knew that they would peak at the right time. They deserved the victory and it is just so fantastic that we managed to crown all the hard work with a win," the German coach Silvia Neid said.

At the final whistle, the German players put on the traditional T-shirts which displayed the clear message: WORLD CHAMPIONS, and then celebrated in front of the 31,000 attendance at the Shanghai Hongkou Football Stadium. Meanwhile, the Brazilians remained together on the pitch, many of them in tears.