BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil — The fireworks began at dawn. All around this city, loud pops and bangs rang out as men and women and children, so many dressed in yellow, set off flares and beeped car horns. It was supposed to be a magical day. The Brazilian national soccer team, playing at home, was one game away from a World Cup final.
No one could have guessed the tears would come before halftime. No one could have imagined there would be flags burning in the streets before dinner. Certainly no one could have envisioned that any Brazilian fans, watching their team play a semifinal in a celebrated stadium, would ever consider leaving long before full time.
The 2014 World Cup, first plagued by questions about funding and protests and infrastructure and construction, then buoyed by scads of goals and dramatic finishes and a contagious spirit of joy from the local residents, will ultimately be remembered for this: the home team, regarded as the sport’s superpower, being throttled like an overmatched junior varsity squad that somehow stumbled into the wrong game.
First there was disbelief. Then there were tears.Beaten, battered and bruised -- Brazil's World Cup dream is over.It's a result that is likely to take some time to comprehend for a nation that many view as guardians of football's soul.Brazil, unbeaten in a competitive fixture at home since 1975, had been on their way to heaven, according to their manager Luis Felipe Scolari, as they sought a sixth world crown.
The final score was Germany 7, Brazil 1. It felt like Germany 70, Brazil 1. By the end, the Germans were barely celebrating their goals anymore, and the Brazilians, starting with their coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, could manage little more than blank stares. In the stands, the Brazilian fans — the ones who stayed around, at least — passed the time by cycling through obscene chants about each player, as well as the Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff.Ninety minutes later Scolari, his players, and their millions of fans must have thought they had tumbled into Dante's Inferno. They had congregated in Belo Horizonte -- the scene of Brazil's last competitive defeat on home soil -- to roar their team into Sunday's final in Rio de Janeiro. But nobody had told Germany as the European side produced a performance which was as staggering as the result. A 7-1 defeat almost flattered Brazil given its dire showing. Outplayed, outfought, outthought -- if this was a boxing match it would have been stopped long before the halftime whistle. And yet, this had been coming. There are few who would have expected the punishment to be so severe, but those in yellow who had kicked and dived their way around the field over the past few weeks were never likely to succeed in the long term. Let there be no doubt -- there is and was nothing beautiful about this Brazilian side. Jogo Bonito is just a sepia toned memory -- like a teenage fling or a summer romance. This Brazil side is like an errant school child who plays up as often as possible until somebody steps forward to put it back in its place. That petulance was quickly displayed as Marcelo claimed an early penalty after an impeccably timed Philipp Lahm tackle. Occasionally the errant child gets a helping hand, as it did in its opening game against Croatia or during its quarterfinal victory over Colombia. But what Brazil and its carefree kids had not bargained for was that one teacher who petrifies everybody and chills students to the bone. You know the teacher -- the one that doesn't even need to speak to get his or her message across when just an ice cold stare will suffice. The teacher who can cause nightmares and bring out cold sweats with just a glance is the one which turned up in Belo Horizonte with the name of Germany displayed proudly upon its shirt. World Cup ghosts return to haunt Brazil This was the day Brazil was taught a lesson -- and what a painful lesson it was as Germany provided a stark reminder of just how far those in yellow have fallen. There isn't a detention long enough for those who produced Brazil's most insipid performances in World Cup history and the heaviest defeat in the country's history. Five times has Brazil held the World Cup trophy aloft -- but this current generation does not come close in comparison to any of those which have been successful in years past. Would it have been different had Brazil's star player Neymar been there? Since the golden boy of Brazilian football was taken off on a stretcher during the quarterfinal win over Colombia, the country has been plunged into misery. His back injury, sustained following a poor challenge by Colombia's Carlos Zuniga, didn't just damage his vertebrae -- it shattered the hopes and dreams of a nation consumed by the ideal of winning. Every single waking moment has been spent discussing the absence of Neymar, the man who has scored 35 goals in 54 appearances. His goals have propelled an average side to heights that it surely never would have reached without him. But even his presence would only have delayed the inevitable, insisted Brazil's coach. "This would have happened even with Neymar," said Scolari. "If Neymar were in there things would not have been much different. He is a striker, don't forget that. “I think,” Scolari said afterward, “that it was the worst day of my life.” He was surely not alone in that sentiment.
Sports are often a haven of hyperbole, but there was little risk of that here on Tuesday. Given the circumstances and the stakes, this result — a soccer massacre of the highest order — may well be remembered as the most surprising in World Cup history. "The blame for this catastrophic result can be shared between us all, but the person who decided the line-up, the tactics was me. It was my choice," Scolari, who led Brazil to glory in 2002, told reporters. "We tried to do what we could, we did our best - but we came up against a great German team. We couldn't react to going behind. "Not even the Germans can tell you how this happened -- but it's because of their skills and you have to respect that. "My message for the Brazilian people is this: Please excuse us for this performance. I'm sorry that we weren't able to get to the final -- and we're going to try to win the third place match. We still have something to play for." For Brazil this World Cup was not just about victory -- it was about exorcizing the demons of 64 years ago, demons which have haunted a nation in a merciless fashion. In 1950 it was Uruguay that ransacked the Maracana stadium in Rio and brought Brazil to its knees. Those players were never allowed to forget what had come to pass, but at least now, their transgressions may be temporarily forgotten. This current generation has grown up with the knowledge it would have the opportunity to avenge that day -- instead it wrote a new chapter of humiliation into the history of Brazilian football.From the very moment Germany opened the scoring through Thomas Muller in the 11th minute, Brazil's world began to unravel.
