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The18 would like to apologize for suggesting that the loss of Thiago Silva wouldn’t be as significant for Brazil as the loss of Neymar. We were wrong. Without their captain and defensive sanity check, A Seleção were utterly desolated during 20 minutes of soccer suicide in which they conceded five of the most abject goals ever seen in a World Cup semi-final.
Make no mistake: Germany are a force to be reckoned with. Their play in the opening 45 minutes was fluid, energetic and clinical on the counter. But their goals were as much the result of profligate Brazilian defending as they were attacking prowess. Maicon and Marcelo bounded down the wings with little thought to the acres of space left in their wake. David Luiz, wearing the captain’s armband, was everywhere and nowhere all at the same time. Perhaps trying to compensate for the absence of his two illustrious teammates, Luiz tried to do it all: he hit sweeping diagonals, made crazy dribbling runs from the back, popped up on the left wing, then on the right. Unfortunately for Brazil, the only thing Luiz didn’t do was defend.
Thomas Muller scored Germany’s opener on eleven minutes, volleying home Schweinsteiger’s corner with the inside of his right boot from ten yards. Muller was completely unmarked; Luiz the culprit.
Muller scores at the 11' mark to kick off Germany's rout of Brazil (Photo: @ForTheWin | Twitter)
Miroslav Klose scored the second in the 23rd minute, taking Ronaldo’s all time World Cup goal-scoring record in the process. Brazilian defenders stood and watched as Klose took two attempts to slot the ball home.
A minute later, Toni Kroos - unmarked - hit a sweet strike off the laces of his left boot to make it three; Lahm afforded the freedom of Belo Horizonte down Brazil’s left, from where he hit a pinpoint cross.
On 26 minutes Kroos grabbed his second and Germany’s fourth, dispossessing Fernandinho 25 yards from the Brazilian goal before working a neat one-two with Sami Khedira and slotting past Julio Cesar.
Finally, in the 29th minute, Khedira completed the single-most one-sided twenty minutes of soccer ever seen in a World Cup semi-final to make it 5-0 Germany. Luiz, as he did throughout the game, charged out of the back four, abandoning all pretense of defensive discipline and shape to leave a gaping hole into which Khedira and Ozil flooded. Luiz was a full 30 yards out of position when the ball hit the back of the net.
Khedira scores germany's 5th goal in the first half here (Photo: @kathmandupost | Twitter)
The remainder of the match was a lesson in ruthless German efficiency as Brazil mustered as spirited a response as they could manage, only to be picked off two more times on the counter by substitute Andre Schurlle. Luiz was as statuesque as Christ the Redeemer for the first and completely out of position for the second, finished by Schurlle with the most fabulous of left-footed strikes. Brazil managed a consolation goal in the 90th minute, but the damage was long done: Germany were through to the finals with a 7-1 demolition.
Luiz was tearful and apologetic after the match (Photo: @TheWorldGame | Twitter)
Let this sink in: until tonight, Brazil had never lost a World Cup game by more than two goals, and hadn’t lost any competitive fixture at home since 1975. It was patently obvious to all but the most myopic of Brazilians that this was no vintage side, but to lose 7-1 in the semi-finals of a World Cup in your own backyard is beyond comprehensible. Neymar was of course missed: the rag-tag collection of mediocrity that is Fred and Hulk providing precisely zero added-value in attack. But it was the absence of Thiago Silva that led to such a humiliation. With nobody organizing the Brazilian defense, reigning in the cavalier Luiz and the carefree Maicon and Marcelo, Brazil were torn to shreds. Boos echoed round Belo Horizonte as the final whistle sounded; surely Scolari’s legacy is irreparably tainted.
Brazilian fans, who initially wore Neymar masks to bring his spirit to the semi-final match, slump in disappointment after the defeat (Photo: @RT_com | Twitter)
Germany now head into Sunday’s final as the one thing this tournament had, to date, been missing: a clear-cut favorite. In Neuer they have the world’s finest keeper. In Klose they have the World Cup’s most prolific goal-scorer of all time, and in Muller they have the man most likely to break that record. In midfield they have the control and creativity of Kroos and Schweinsteiger, and on the bench they have the devastating talents of Andre Schurlle. But a glimmer of hope to whomever they face in Sunday’s final: as against Algeria in the last 16, Germany were undone in the 90th minute by a long ball that exposed their back four’s high line and distinct lack of pace. Van Gaal and Sabella will have taken note.
