Brazil knew it would be difficult but its fans had no idea that it would this painful. What Germany did to Brazil was "murder" by sporting standards. The five-time world champions were defeated 1-7 in the semi-finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The hosts suffered the worst defeat in its world cup history, and the fans feel the agony like never before.
Brazil suffered double blows in its quarter-final match against Colombia. Its captain Thiago Silva got the second yellow card in the tournament, which ensured that he would miss the semi-final match against Germany. The second blow, which was more severe in nature, was Neymar's injury. The Brazilian striker's broken vertebra threw him off the rest of the tournament. Every Brazil fan was aware that it would be hard to beat Germany which had been one of the most consistent teams in the tournament. However, not even the most audacious German fan had imagined such a score line against Brazil on its home soil.
Even nature was shedding tears for the football-crazy nation as the tropical rain drenched the stadium which witnessed an unprecedented elimination in world cup history by any team. Germany scored one after another. In fact, 4 of its goals came within 6 minutes in the first half, and Brazil looked like clumsy school-boys playing against a team of monsters. Germany found the net with clinical finishing.
Miroslav Klose scored a goal to become the highest goal-scorer in world cups. To add insult to Brazil's injury, he got past former Brazilian superstar Ronaldo to achieve the feat. André Schürrle and Toni Kroos scored 2 each while Thomas Müller and Sami Khedira scored 1 each. It seemed like every German player was capable enough to score a goal against a miserable Brazil. Moreover, Manuel Neuer saved several Brazilian attempts in the second half, restricting the South American team to scoring only one goal to restore its pride on an extremely marginal level.
This will remain as the darkest day in Brazilian football, and it will take a while for Brazil to move ahead, shrugging off this defeat.
Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au
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