Once upon a time… found themselves a step away from reaching the biggest game in the World for the first time in 12 years. They packed the Mineirao to come see Brazil vs Germany for the 2014 World Cup semifinal. A wave of yellow and green painted the stadium that July night. The brightly lit up stadium soon turned into a dark, gloomy storm.
Brazil’s golden generation of the early 2000s failed to live up to their extremely high expectations. The entire country of Brazil rallied around the team with hopes of erasing the nightmare that was the 1950 World Cup. Although the 2014 team was nowhere near as talented as the 2002 or 2006 side, they counted on 22-year-old Neymar to shine and lead the team to glory. However, tragedy struck when Thiago Silva saw his second yellow of the tournament against Colombia thus resulting in a one game suspension. To make matters worse, Colombia’s Zapata’s untimely and flatout reckless challenge nearly paralyzed Neymar in the dying moments of the game. The host nation would have to go up against the best side of the tournament without their captain or their star player.
Germany on the other hand had cruised to the semifinals in a very dominating fashion. They had outscored their opponents 10-3 while keeping three clean sheets. They had Miroslav Klose at the doorstep of World Cup history needing a goal to break the World Cup record for most goals. 2010 World Cup revelation Thomas Muller had continued his dominance in the tournament and had arguably the best midfield in the tournament in Ozil, Khedira, Kroos, Gotze and even Lahm at times. The Germans found themselves in a familiar position. They had not missed a World Cup semi final since 1998 but they had not won the tournament since 1990. 14 years after drastic changes were made after an awful 2000 Euro, was it time for Germany to conquer the World again?
David Luiz was handed the captain’s armband as although they were missing both Thiago Silva and Neymar, the stadium roaring the national anthem gave the sense of security and hope for the team. Of course, that wouldn’t last long…
Just 11 minutes into the game, Germany was awarded a corner kick from the right hand side. With towers like Boateng and Hummels lurking in the box, Brazil seemed to forget one of the most clinical finishers in the World: Thomas Muller. The Bayern midfielder found himself unmarked just outside the 6-yard-box for an easy volley past Julio Cesar. Horrible marking by the Brazilians had allowed Germany to take an early lead. All was not lost for the hosts at that moment. They had gone down early against Croatia in the tournament opener and they had gone on to win the game. There was 79 minutes left to play so it was no time to worry.
Brazil kept their heads up high and continued attacking looking for the equalizer. However just 12 minutes later, a dashing run by Muller across the middle dragged Marcelo with him. His layoff found an open Miroslav Klose 1v1 with the keeper right around the penalty mark. Julio Cesar did all that he could and even blocked his initial shot. Klose being Klose would not waste his second chance and tucked away his own rebound to make it 2-0 for the Germans. Questionable defending by the Brazilians would against cost them dearly. Record breaking goal for Klose had his team 2-0 up within the first 25 minutes of play.
It was at that precise moment where Brazil’s ship began to sink. Quickly. A minute later, Germany would again attack from the right hand side. Lahm’s driven cross across made it across the box untouched and it was met by Toni Kroos who hit it first time past Julio Cesar. A trademark bottom-corner Toni Kroos’ goal had Germany in the driver’s seat with a commanding 3-0 lead.
Things went from bad to worse for the Brazilians in a blink of an eye. Fernandinho was stripped off the ball about 25 yards away from goal by Toni Kroos. Kroos quickly led the break against an out of shape brazilian side who made no attempt to come back and defend. Kroos found Khedira who decided to play the ball back to Kroos instead of shooting it himself. With the defense caught out of position and the keeper beat, Kroos simply tapped the ball away to make it 4-0. Important to point out that out of the entire brazilian team, only Dante and Fernandinho had rushed back to defend. David Luiz was seen jogging back on defense while Maicon and Marcelo were nowhere to be found. A brace for Toni Kroos and a humiliating 4-0 lead for Germany.
Just three minutes later, Germany recovered the ball perfectly in Brazil’s own half and again caught the hosts out of position. Khedira, Ozil and Klose led the counter against Marcelo, Maicon and Dante. Once again, David Luiz was nowhere to be found. The Germans were so comfortable on the ball that they were being unselfish in front of goal. Ozil had a chance to put the ball away but instead chose to feed a wide open Khedira who simply passed the ball to the back of the net. 5-0 and it wasn’t even the 30th minute. The stadium grew silent as the country was witnessing their team being humiliated in front of their very eyes.
Rumor has it that the Germans talked it over during half time and agreed to stop the bleeding and not sore anymore for the remainder of the game. It was a comfortable 5-0 lead after all. Both teams came out the second half simply because they had to. There was a clear winner and loser already decided. At this point, the stadium appeared to be drastically empty. Fans had abandoned their team knowing the game was done. It appeared to be 45 minutes of possession and just time killing. Everyone seemed aware of that. Except for Andre Schurrle..
Germany maintained control of the ball for the majority of the second half and their possession around the box appeared to be another goal waiting to happen. In the 69th minute, Philipp Lahm was left wide open again inside the box. He found a wide open Andre Schurrle who did nothing but tap it in past Julio Cesar for a whopping 6-0. Both Schurrle and Lahm we’re all alone inside the box with no Brazilian players near them to make the tackle. The narrative of the story continued.
Ten minutes later, it was Schurrle again who made it seven for the Germans. He received the ball all alone (again) inside the box. Though he received it in a difficult angle, he let the ball bounce twice before striking it top corner at Julio Cesar’s near post. A World class finish that was not celebrated properly due to the score.
Brazil would eventually get their goal in the 90th minute of the game when Oscar broke free of the German defense and faced Boateng in a 1v1 inside the box. A great cut inside left Boateng in the dust and Oscar finished like a true “9” to give Brazil their goal of honor. Though 7-1 is not much better than a 7-0, it finally rewarded Brazil who had improved drastically in the second half.
A nightmare that no Brazilian will ever forget. That 7-1 was the worse margin of defeat in a World Cup semi final. A gloomy and devastating loss for the entire country of Brazil who consequently appeared to go into full depression. The Germans would go on to lift the trophy after defeating Argentina 1-0 in the final while Brazil lost to the Netherlands in the 3rd place game 3-0.
It’s a result that I personally don’t think we will ever see again in a World Cup semifinal. Especially not between these two teams. Too many factors played a part in the game along with Brazil’s inability to mark. David Luiz was by far the worst player on the pitch that day and has never truly been the same with Brazil. With the 2018 World Cup less than a month away, the World will be watching to see what either of these teams can do. Both teams could potentially play each other in the Round of 16 but a semifinal rematch seems much more likely. Who knows? We might see Brazil get revenge this time around.
