Germany embarrass Brazil 7-1, advance to World Cup final

It took just 11 minutes for Germany to open its account against host Brazil in Belo Horizonte, but few could’ve known it was just the beginning of the European side completely embarrassing the five-time World Cup champions. In the end, the 6-0 scoreline was Brazil’s worst defeat for 94 years — that’s how bad things went minus key stars Neymar and Thiago Silva.

But, let’s get one thing of the way — Neymar not being in this game had zero to do with the outcome on the field. In fact, the opening five or six minutes saw Brazil on the front foot and getting some good crosses in to test the German defense.

However, when Brazil’s defense forgot to mark Thomas Müller (a man with nine World Cup goals to his credit coming in) on a corner kick in the 11th minute it became painfully obvious that the team was completely deflated and without heart.

For me, that’s where this team missed Neymar and more importantly, missed center back Thiago Silva. Neymar was the spark that lit this teams offensive fire and it never happened after giving up the opening goal. On the other hand, Silva gave this team a nasty streak and some real heart in the back of defense. He also gave this squad organization, something that was completely lacking all game long and the ultimate factor in Brazil getting embarrassed at home.

After Müller slotted home the opener in the 11th minute, Germany opened the floodgates in a manner most alive have never seen before at the World Cup. In a matter of 18 minutes the scoreline went from 1-0 to the Germans to 5-0 and it was time for the fat lady to start warming up, because Brazil were done.

Following Müller’s strike off the corner kick there was a “lull” in the action until Miroslav Klose struck the back of the net in the 23rd minute for his record setting 16th all-time World Cup goal. That’s when the floodgates came completely open as Toni Kroos managed to get a brace in the span of two minutes, slotting home goals three and four for Die Mannschaft in the 24th and 26th minutes respectively.

If there was ever a goal that showed just how disjointed and uninspired Brazil was in defense it was goal No. 5. Germany’s Sami Khedira took the ball off a Brazilian attempt to clear its back line, passed it to Mesut Özil who returned the favor for an easy-as-you like tap in to make it 5-0 and put Brazil in the history books in a bad way.

The halftime scoreline was shocking to the casual observer, the hardcore and even fellow international stars — stars like Colombia’s Radamal Falcao, whose coach posted this via Twitter:

The 5-0 scoreline at the half appeared to be too much to overcome, but Brazil gave it a go at the start of the second half and had three great opportunities in the first ten minutes. Only Manuel Neuer was up to the task and kept Brazil from gaining any real hope.

Sure, Germany didn’t come all that close to breaking Hungary’s 11-1 record score, but it felt like that was what was happening to Brazil in the first half alone. It didn’t get much better in the second half, as substitute Andre Schürrle netted a brace of goals for the final scoreline for Die Mannschaft.

His second was easily the goal of the game and a showcase of just how little the Brazilian defense seemed to actually care in this one.

Brazil managed to find the back of the net in the 91st minute thanks to a breakaway by Oscar, but it was way too little, way too late for the home side.

The Germans were none too happy about it either, as Neuer pounded the turf in frustration and defenders were yelling at each other — all this despite a commanding six goal lead with no more than a minute left.

With the seven goals, Germany now has a commanding lead at the top of the goal scoring charts for this World Cup. They have netted 17 goals and go atop the team goalscoring charts over Colombia’s 12 goals.

Many pundits have said this has been a a great tournament because there were a lot of good teams playing, but no truly great team had emerged. After the beating Germany put on Brazil in one half alone, its safe to say we’ve found that great team at the 2014 World Cup.

This game will likely go down in history as one of the most shocking score lines in history. To put it all in perspective, Brazil hasn’t lost at home since 1975, a streak that spanned 62 matches in a row.

Germany now awaits the winner of Argentina vs. Netherlands, playing the final on Sunday at 3pm ET.

About Andrew Coppens

Andy is a contributor to The Comeback as well as Publisher of Big Ten site talking10. He also is a member of the FWAA and has been covering college sports since 2011. Andy is an avid soccer fan and runs the Celtic FC site The Celtic Bhoys. If he's not writing about sports, you can find him enjoying them in front of the TV with a good beer!

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