The tournament that started with 32 teams and 736 players who dreamed of lifting world football’s most glamorous trophy has now almost reached the grand stage. In the first semi-final of the 2014 FIFA World Cup between the host Brazil and Germany held at Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte, the Die Mannschaft crushed their 5 time World Champion opponent 1 goal to 7. The young German side guided by Joachim Löw reached the World Cup final for the record 8th time after 90 of the most incredible minutes in World Cup history, putting seven goals past the Brazil, who suffered their worst ever defeat, breaking the record set in 1920 for Brazil’s heaviest ever defeat, previously 6-0 against Uruguay.
Bernard, Dante and Luiz Gustavo came into the Brazilian side for the injured Neymar Jr., the suspended Thiago Silva and the dropped Paulinho, while Germany were unchanged from their quarter-final win over France. The Brazilian side paid tribute to their injured hero Neymar before kickoff, with David Luiz holding a jersey bearing his name during the anthems. But it was Thiago Silva who they appeared to miss the most in the opening 10 minutes and a defensive shambles from a German corner left Thomas Muller in acres of space to side foot the ball home past Cesar to put the Germans ahead. This was but only the beginning to the carnage that followed, Miroslav Klose, Toni Kroos (2 goals), Sami Khedira and 58′ substitute Andre Schurrle (2 goals) did the job for the Germans as they devastated Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Brazil. Miroslav Klose broke Ronaldo’s long-standing World Cup goals record when he poked in a rebound to notch his 16th finals goal. The hosts were down by 5 goals at the 29′ mark itself.
The match was over for the men in yellow in the first half itself. Luiz Felipe Scolari made a pair of changes at half time. Paulinho and Ramires replaced Fernandinho and the ineffective Hulk, and Brazil started the second half with a little extra spark. For the next 10 minutes or so the hosts persevered and kept the German goal under constant attack, though only to be denied by Manuel Neuer, who kept on making brilliant saves and increase the frustration amongst the Brazilian players and majority of the audience (58,141) present in the stadium. Match referee Marco Rodriguez kept his cards away for most of the time and only one Yellow card was shown to Brazilian and Bayern Munich defender Dante.
A consolation came in the 90th minute through Oscar, but it was bit too late.
The ultimate humiliation for the Brazilian players came late on in the game, as their fans begin to join the German fans’ “Ole”s whenever Germany touched the ball. For most of the time after going down by 5 goals the Brazilian fans “booed” their own side in frustration. The expectations were of diminishing the memories of the 1950 FIFA World Cup Finals where they lost to their bitter rivals Argentina at home and claiming their 6th title here, but this now only remains a futile cause.
Germany will now join the winners of the Second Semi-final, to be played between Netherlands and Argentina tonight at Arena Corinthians, São Paulo. It should be noted that no European side has ever lifted the World Cup trophy here in South America, but this very well may be their golden chance in Rio de Janeiro.
Rishab Sharma
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