5 reasons why Argentina will win the World Cup

Over two-and-a-half years since Argentina kicked off their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 4-1 win over Chile in Buenos Aires, La Albiceleste find themselves only 90 minutes away from a third World Cup title.

Of course, standing in their way is a confident Germany side, who are being labelled as favorites by many following their 7-1 trashing of the host nation.

Despite Die Mannschaft's impressive play in the knockout stage, writing off Argentina would be a foolish move. It's not hard to rationalize Alejandro Sabella's team lifting the World Cup Trophy on Sunday.

Here are five reasons why Argentina will win the World Cup:

European teams don't win World Cups in South America

Four previous World Cups have taken place on South American soil, and all four editions produced a South American champion.

The inaugural World Cup in 1930 saw hosts Uruguay triumph 4-2 over Argentina, 1950 saw Uruguay claim their second title by shocking Brazil 2-1 at the Maracana, 1962 saw Brazil win a third World Cup title with a 3-1 win against Czechoslovakia, and 1978 saw Argentina win the tournament for the first time with a 3-1 home win over the Netherlands.

''We know we can write history,'' said Germany coach Joachim Low on Saturday. ''South Americans have always dominated on their continent and this is an extra incentive for us.''

Surely Czechoslovakia and the Netherlands were fueled by the same incentive in 1962 and 1978, respectively, and look what happened on those two occasions.

Recent history actually favors Argentina

While Germany may have been responsible for their elimination at the past two World Cups, Argentina actually possess an excellent recent record against Die Mannschaft.

With the exception of the aforementioned losses in 2006 and 2010, La Albiceleste haven't fallen to Germany since 1990, when they were technically taking on West Germany as the Berlin Wall was still standing. In the six matches between then and now, Argentina won four and drew two.

In their most recent meeting, a 2012 friendly in Frankfurt, Argentina came away with a 3-1 victory courtesy of an own goal from Sami Khedira and goals from Lionel Messi and Angel di Maria. Interestingly, 10 of Germany's starters from their 7-1 semifinal win over Brazil played in that friendly.

Lionel Messi only needs one opportunity

With a back line consisting of Phillip Lahm, Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels, and Benedikt Howedes, Germany undoubtedly have one of the strongest defensive units at the World Cup.

But when you're going up against Lionel Messi, keeping a clean sheet is tough no matter what defenders you deploy.

Iran's outstanding defensive performance against Argentina in the group stage was all in vain after one outstanding curler from Messi in the 91st minute. It didn't matter that all 11 of Iran's players were behind the ball. The Argentinian superstar still found a way to hit the back of the net.

And against Switzerland, another solid defensive performance was rendered meaningless when Messi made a classic run down the middle of the pitch before feeding Angel Di Maria the ball for the winner in the 118th minute.

If Argentina can keep Germany off the score sheet as they've done in each of their knockout-stage matches, one moment of brilliance from Messi may be enough for La Albiceleste.

Argentina haven't conceded in 373 minutes

While on the topic of impressive defenses, few sides have been as disciplined at the back as Argentina have at the World Cup.

La Albiceleste entered the tournament with a myriad of concerns over their back line, but it's now been 373 minutes since they last conceded a goal, dating back to the 47th minute of their 3-2 win over Nigeria in the group stage.

Marcos Rojo, in particular, has made a name for himself throughout Argentina's six matches so far. The Sporting CP left-back did a phenomenal job of shutting down Arjen Robben in the semifinals, and he'll be faced with the equally-as-daunting task of keeping Thomas Mueller off the score sheet on Sunday.

Javier Mascherano has provided Argentina with something of a shield in front of their back line, consistently breaking up attacks before the opposing team can open up a goal-scoring chance. His clutch tackle on Robben in second-half injury time may also have saved Argentina's World Cup campaign.

100,000 supporters heading to Rio de Janeiro

If fan support is able to tip the balance in either team's favor, then Argentina stand to benefit from the estimated 100,000 supporters that are expected to be in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.

A significant portion of those fans are obviously arriving without tickets to the match, but similarly to when Chile beat Spain 2-0 at the Maracana in the group stage, Rio de Janeiro will have the feel of a non-Brazilian city before, during, and after the final whistle.

Of course, it's easy to say that Germany will be unaffected by the atmosphere given 7-1 rout of Brazil. But then again, no amount of Brazilian support could have made up for the Seleção's defensive disorganization in the first half.