It could have been one of the closest matches of the World Cup. It should have been one of the closest matches of the World Cup. But destiny has a funny way of playing things out. To the horror of an entire country, Brazil’s national team crumbled against their mighty German opponents. In under just thirty minutes the German team scored an astounding five times, while adding an additional two late in the second half. Contrarily Brazil was only able to find the back of the net once at the ninetieth minute.
Thomas Muller and Miroslav Klose both scored in the first twenty three minutes. Then Toni Kroos pounded in another two goals with in two minutes of each other at the twenty-fourth and twenty-sixth minutes. Sami Khedira capped off the first half with another goal at the twenty-ninth minute, and Andre Schurrle put the final two nails in the coffin at minutes sixty-nine and seventy-nine. Brazil’s only goal was scored by Oscar dos Santos Emboaba Júnior.
The end result left Brazilian fans in tears as all but a few protesters dreamed of their host country winning the World Cup. Brazil hasn’t lost a World Cup match so badly since 1998 when they lost to France three to zero in the finals. Many fans feared that Neymar’s absence would impact Brazil’s ability to win against the German powerhouse. His absence though could not excuse Brazil’s terrible performance.
Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, “We did what we thought was best. Please excuse us for this mistake. I’m sorry we could not get to the final.” Could not get to the final was an understatement. Brazil could barely even put up a defense in what can only be described as a total collapse.
Germany has not utterly destroyed an opponent as atrociously since their eight to zero routing of Saudi Arabia in 2002 during World Cup group play. Thomas Muller stated “Now we have to pull it off one more time and lift the thing. We should keep our feet on the ground.” Germany is waiting to see who will join them for the 2014 World Cup final. The second semi-final match between the Netherlands and Argentina is scheduled for July 9.
