WINNING the world’s biggest sporting event should be a moment for unrestrained joy. And of course Germans danced in the streets last night, waving flags, honking horns, shooting off fireworks in the middle of busy intersections. To chants of “Super Mario! Super Deutschland”, Germany celebrated their 1-0 World Cup victory over Argentina courtesy of a late goal by Mario Götze. But Germans can’t be seen to do anything unrestrained, and so Germany’s remarkable championship run has been marked by team spirit and humility. More revealing than the night of the championship win was the aftermath of Germany’s shocking 7-1 dismantling of Brazil in the semifinal. That night Germans danced in the street too, but neither the fans nor the players could bear to dwell on the humiliation of the host country. Many Germans cheered Brazil’s meaningless 90th-minute goal.

Most Brazil fans went on to cheer for Germany in the final—and not only because Germany would face the hated Argentine rival. Football commentators and ordinary fans praised Germany’s skill on the pitch and their decency off of it, with German arms around slumped Brazilian shoulders in the moments after the semifinal, a touching thanks to the host on the team's official Facebook page, and tributes from Lukas Podolski, a German player, on Twitter, praising Brazil, "the country of football".

Germany has triumphed in sport just at a moment when it has been triumphing in other things. Its economy is creating jobs and wealth, its politics are stable to the point of dullness, and its position as Europe’s leader is unassailable. All of this has created resentment among those countries forced into austerity by the economic crisis, with pictures of Angela Merkel in a Nazi uniform shaming many a Greek street-protest. As in politics, so in sport: the word “Nazi” tended to spike on Twitter when Germany scored goals, and many a bad joke about “blitzkrieg” made the rounds during the trouncing of Brazil. But the team itself did nothing to earn that, playing with grace and harmony, giving itself so many chances to score that the result seemed inevitable.

Germany’s four World Cup wins have come at inflection points in the country’s history. In 1954, West Germany was just re-entering polite society. In 1974, Willy Brandt, the beloved chancellor who was opening his country up to the East, had just been forced from office by a spy scandal. In 1990, the two halves of divided Germany were in the midst of ticklish international negotiations about reunification. It was looking inevitable by then—the first all-German elections were being planned. But those players who had suited up for the East German squad were ineligible to play again for West Germany.

So this is the first-ever win for united Germany. It was a country united in more than one way: the last victorious team featured Jürgen Klinsmann, Lothar Matthäus and many similarly named. This year’s squad, alongside names like Müller and Schweinsteiger, featured others like Khedira, Özil, Boateng and Podolski. The German Football Association has dedicated itself to finding and developing all the country’s footballing talent. This inevitably meant that a multicoloured Germany featured a rainbow team including many from what Germans delicately call a “migration background”.

Der Spiegel, the country’s leading magazine, could not simply enjoy Germany’s historic run. Its Monday cover (which went to press before the final was played) featured various people (a footballer, the chancellor, a parent toting a baby, a burqa-clad woman) wrapped in the German flag, asking “Wir sind wieder…wer?”: “Who are we, again?” It was a play on “Wir sind wieder wer!” a slogan associated with the 1954 victory: “We are someone again!” That, in turn, was first said by Ludwig Erhard, the economy minister associated with Germany’s postwar economic revival, on Germany’s return to the family of nations.

Sixty years later, Germany is certainly someone: a world-beating economy again, and now world champion in football. In Brazil on Tuesday, protestors set fire to buses. Last night in Buenos Aires, riot police clashed with fans. In Berlin, nothing bigger than a beer bottle was broken. Let the restrained celebration begin.