The Samba Boys of Brazil were completely humbled by a fantastic German side at the Estadio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday with a historic 7 – 1 demolition.
No one would have predicted that the game, which started out as a pulsating affair would end up terribly lopsided. Just 11 minutes after Mexican referee Marco Rodríguez blew the opening whistle the Germans started a feast of goals with Thomas Müller, Miroslav Klose, Toni Kroos and Sami Khedira finding the back of the net five times before half time.
A second half brace from Andre Schürrle sealed the deal, humbling the five-time champions in a most remarkable semi final game. A 90th minute strike by Oscar gave Brazil their only consolation, marking the first time since 1975 that Brazil would lose a match in Estadio Mineirão.
Neymar injured and Thiago Silva suspended, Brazil head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari had to make some tweaks to his 4-2-3-1 and opted to have Dante fill in for Silva and Bernard for Neymar. Júlio César took his normal place in goal and was shielded by a back line of Marcelo, Dante, David Luiz and Maicon. Fernandinho and Luis Gustavo slotted in as holding midfielders while Hulk, Oscar and Bernard lined up as attacking midfielders in support of lone striker Fred.
Germany head coach Joachim Löw’s 4-3-3 saw Manuel Neuer start in goal and Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng, Benedikt Höwedes and Philipp Lahm in defense. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Khedira and Kroos composed the three-man midfield while up front it was Mesut Özil, Müller and Klose.
The match started both teams pushing forward but soon enough Germany would strike first with a Müller goal in the 11th minute. A corner kick was looped in and somehow, the Brazilian defense failed to account for Müller who was all alone at the back post and the Bayern man had all the time in the world to club in a shot past Júlio César.
Klose became the all-time World Cup leading scorer in history just 12 minutes into the game, when he netted his 16th World Cup goal. Müller laid off a perfect ball for Klose whose initial shot was blocked by Júlio César but the Lazio man would not be denied on the follow-up and it was 2-0 to Germany.
The die Mannschaft struck three more times in speedy succession. Lahm crossed from the right for Kroos who hammered in a shot to make it 3-0 in the 24th minute. The home fans, already feeling dumbfounded by what they were witnessing, may have well packed up their things and left in the 26th minute as Kroos tallied again after a horrendous giveaway from Fernandinho who was stripped by Khedira who then set up Kroos for the fourth.
The whole scene devolved into an outright humiliation in the 29th minute when a Hummels challenge on Luiz gave Khedira the ball and after a smart touch from Özil, the Real Madrid man fired in to make the score5-0. The first half only lasted 45 minutes but it must have felt like an eternity for the Seleção who were confused from top to bottom and left the pitch with their heads hung to an avalanche of jeers and whistles from their home fans.
Desperate to save face, Brazil attacked to start the second half and had a good chance through Oscar in the 52nd minute only to see Neuer make the requisite save. A minute later Neuer stood tall again when he denied Paulinho twice form point-blank range, further evidence that it was simply not to be Brazil’s night at any point during the 90 minutes.
After that initial push from Brazil, Germany regained control and Müller nearly completed the set in the 61st minute only to see Júlio César barely tip away the shot over the crossbar. Brazil’s abysmal defending continued and the lack of any type of marking resulted in Germany’s sixth in the 69th minute when Lahm easily crossed for substitute Andre Schürrle who had acres of time and space to sweep in his shot to make it 6-0. The Chelsea man then scored his second in the 79th to complete the dismantling when he hit a shot from the left that ricocheted off the crossbar into the net.
Tuesday night’s dismantling of the Samba Boys is the most dominating performance in any World Cup semi-final history.
