Brazil v Germany (2014 FIFA World Cup)

Brazil's captain David Luiz (back centre) led a defence that was incapable of stopping the Germans from scoring four goals in six minutes, starting with Miroslav Klose's (left) strike in the 23rd minute.

Both teams started with attacking play, with Brazilian Marcelo's shot going wide in the third minute and German Sami Khedira's shot in the seventh minute being inadvertently blocked by his teammate Toni Kroos. In the 11th minute, the Germans scored from their first corner of the game. Thomas Müller escaped his marker, David Luiz, in the penalty box, and Toni Kroos's delivery found him wide open for a side-footed shot into the net. In the following minutes Brazil tried to respond but their attacks came to nothing, although Philipp Lahm delivered a brilliant tackle to keep Marcelo from setting up a chance in the penalty box. Instead, in the 23rd minute, Germany scored again after Kroos and Müller combined to set up Miroslav Klose, who scored on the rebound after his initial shot was saved by goalkeeper Júlio César. It was Klose's 16th goal at a World Cup, passing Brazilian player Ronaldo as the all-time World Cup top scorer while playing in Brazil.[17][18][19]

Klose's goal initiated a flurry of German scoring as Brazil lost control of the game. In the 24th minute, Kroos scored with a left-footed strike from the edge of the area after Lahm's cross was deflected. Then, in the 26th minute, just a few seconds after Brazil kicked off, Kroos caught Fernandinho in possession in his own half and played a one-two with Khedira before scoring again. Kroos' goals came just 69 seconds apart. Khedira himself scored in the 29th minute after exchanging passes with Mesut Özil. All five of Germany's first half goals came within the first half-hour, with four of them coming in one six-minute period. In contrast, Brazil had no shots on target in the first half. Many Brazil supporters in the crowd were visibly in shock or reduced to tears, and many would leave the stadium before the second half.[17][18][19] The resulting fights in the Mineirão stands forced the Military Police to send a special forces squad into the stadium.[20]

Brazil's forward Fred is challenged by Germany's defender Jérôme Boateng. Fred was heavily criticized for his performance and was booed by Brazilian fans when he was substituted.

Brazil's substitution of Paulinho for Fernandinho and Ramires for Hulk resulted in an improvement in their play after the restart; Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer saved shots in quick succession from Oscar, Paulinho and Fred. By the 60th minute, though, the Germans came close to scoring again, with Júlio César denying Müller twice. Another German goal nonetheless came in the 69th minute – Lahm's low cross found substitute André Schürrle, who side-footed the ball into the net from close range. 10 minutes later, Schürrle ran onto Müller's cross from the left and hit a powerful shot over Júlio César at the near post. At this point with the score at 7–0, the remaining home fans gave the Germans a standing ovation, applauding both Schürrle's goal and Germany's overall performance.[21] Close to the end, Özil received a through ball but just missed the chance to make it an eighth goal. Seconds later, Oscar received a long ball and scored in the 90th minute to make it 7–1. The final score matched Brazil's worst ever loss (6–0 to Uruguay in 1920) and ended a run of 62 competitive home matches unbeaten for Brazil. The Brazilian players left the pitch in tears to a chorus of boos and jeers.[17][18][19][22][23]

Toni Kroos was selected Man of the Match, with three shots, two goals, 93% pass accuracy, one assist and two chances created.[24][25]

Brazilian striker Fred, who was replaced by Willian in the 70th minute, received a particularly hostile reaction from the home fans.[26] According to Opta Sports, Fred failed to make a single tackle, cross, run or interception during the match, and actually spent the majority of his time in possession of the ball on the centre spot due to six restarts.[27]

Man of the Match Toni Kroos. His two goals in 69 seconds were the fastest brace in the history of the FIFA World Cup. He would later express sorrow on behalf of his defeated adversaries, considering them "not in their best performance".[41]

According to reports, after Germany had scored their seventh goal, Neymar, who was watching the match on television, switched off his set and went to play poker.[42] Brazil manager Luiz Felipe Scolari said the result was the "worst loss by a Brazilian national team ever" and accepted all responsibility for the defeat.[43][44] He called it "the worst day of my life",[45] and resigned after the tournament. Stand-in captain David Luiz and goalkeeper Júlio César both offered apologies to the people of Brazil.[46][47] Fred, who was booed by Brazilian fans during the match, said it was the worst defeat in his and his teammates' careers.[48] He later announced his retirement from international football following the tournament.[49] Recovering from his injury, Neymar expressed his support to his teammates and, despite the 7–1 score, said he was proud to be a part of the team.[50]

During the match, the German team seemed to realise that what was unfolding was not a normal football event.[51] In a post-match statement, Mats Hummels said that the German team had decided that they did not want to humiliate the Brazilians during the second half and after the match:[52]

We just made it clear that we had to stay focused and not try to humiliate them. We said we had to stay serious and concentrate at half-time. That's something you don't have to show on the pitch if you are playing. You have to show the opponent respect and it was very important that we did this and didn't try to show some magic or something like this. It was important we played our game for 90 minutes.

Accordingly, the Germans cut theatrics from their goal celebrations; arms were raised but there was no jumping or screaming after scoring.[51] Coach Joachim Löw stated his team had "a clear, persistent game-plan", and as they realised Brazil were "cracking up", they took advantage as in contrast to the Brazilians' nervousness the German players were "extremely cool".[53][54][55] Toni Kroos, who was chosen as Man of the Match, added that as the Germans felt that in "no game of the Cup, [the Brazilians] played their best", the squad entered with the tactical knowledge on how to counter Brazil: "we took all the balls, and scored the goals".[41] Müller said he was "shocked by just how open Brazil were" as "Gustavo, Luiz, Dante, Fernandinho and Marcelo were shambolic in their positioning", being confused and disorganized, noting that his German teammates benefited overwhelmingly as "the spaces were bigger than against defence-minded teams".

Löw also declared the team had "no euphoria" during or after the game,[53] as they knew that the 7–1 win meant nothing for the upcoming final, saying "We didn't celebrate. We were happy, but we still have a job to do".[56]

Following the match, the German players and managers offered words of consolation to the Brazilians. Löw and players Per Mertesacker and Philipp Lahm even compared the pressure on the Brazilian team and resulting heartbreaking defeat with Germany's own when they hosted the 2006 FIFA World Cup and also lost in the semifinals.[55][57][58] Lahm added in an interview after the tournament that he had felt "very uneasy" during the match and "not at all euphoric" since the Brazilian team had made mistakes that "don't usually happen at this level",[59] and Mertesacker noted that despite featuring the Germans at the top of their game, "even from the bench, [the semifinal] was crazy to watch".[58] Kroos stated that, despite Brazil having good players, "they couldn't show their best performance" due to all the outside pressure, and expressed faith in "them returning with a good squad".[41][60] Löw observed in the immediate aftermath of the match that the Brazilian people were applauding his team.[21] Later the Brazilian newspaper O Globo expressed appreciation for the gestures of the German players, calling them "world champions of sympathy".[61]

Brazilian footballing icon Pelé tweeted, "I always said that football is a box of surprises. Nobody in this world expected this result," followed by, "[Brazil] Will try to get the sixth title in Russia. Congratulations to Germany."[62] Carlos Alberto Torres, the captain of Brazil's winning team in 1970, said that the country lost due to a "feeling of 'we've already won'". He added that "Germany played how I like to see and Scolari's tactics for this match were suicidal".[63] In contrast, Argentinian icon Diego Maradona was seen singing a song mocking the Brazilian defeat.[64]

In Germany, the match's coverage by ZDF set a record for the country's most watched TV broadcast ever, with 32.57 million viewers (87.8% of all viewers), beating the Germany–Spain match at the 2010 World Cup.[65] This record was beaten five days later with the final. In contrast, despite a weekly spike in audience, the broadcast by Brazilian Rede Globo saw the viewers total fall with each German goal.[66]

Brazil's defeat was lamented by the nation's President, Dilma Rousseff.

The match was the most discussed sports game ever on Twitter with over 35.6 million tweets,[67] surpassing Super Bowl XLVIII, with 24.9 million tweets during the game.[62] At first incentive hashtags such as "#PrayForBrazil" were common, but once Germany built a 5–0 lead Brazilian users instead lent their frustration into self-deprecatory humor, comparing Germany's goals with the Volkswagen Gol car and stating the Brazilian team looked like "11 Freds".[68] Other Twitter users compared Germany's dominating performance to their military efforts during World War II and The Holocaust, for example, dubbing it the "Goalocaust".[69] Bung Moktar Radin, a member of parliament of Malaysia, came under heavy criticism from the Malaysian public and the German ambassador, Holger Michael, for posting such a comment.[70] The President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, stated on Twitter following the match that "like all Brazilians, I am deeply saddened by our loss".[71] The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Yigal Palmor, mentioned the match when countering Brazil's claim that his country was using disproportionate force in the Gaza conflict, saying "This is not football. In football, when a game ends in a draw, you think it is proportional, but when it finishes 7–1 it's disproportionate".[72]

Due to the pressure on the home nation Brazil to win the World Cup and the subsequent shock of the loss, the media and FIFA dubbed the game the Mineirazo (Mineiraço in Brazil), meaning "The Mineirão blow", evoking the Maracanazo (Maracanaço) in which Brazil were defeated on home soil by outsiders Uruguay in the de facto final of the 1950 World Cup.[38][73][74][75] The daughter of goalkeeper Moacir Barbosa, who was scapegoated for the 1950 defeat, said the loss was enough to redeem her father's legacy,[76] while Uruguayan striker Alcides Ghiggia, responsible for the Cup-winning goal of the Maracanazo, felt that though both games were traumatic they could not be compared as the 1950 match had more at stake.[77] Following the match, German fans were escorted out of the stadium by police and police were put on alert for possible riots.[78] Observers noted that while the German supporters had shown respect to the defeated hosts, Argentinian fans were celebrating Brazil's elimination.[21][79]

There were reports of a mass robbery at a fan party in Rio de Janeiro and of fans setting fire to Brazilian flags in the streets of São Paulo even before the match was over.[80] A number of buses were burned across São Paulo and an electronics store was looted.[81]

Estado de Minas, Belo Horizonte's biggest broadsheet newspaper, had a blank front cover (left) featuring a sad supporter, a graphical representation of the goalscorers, and the headline: "Do you even want to remember what happened? Then turn the page." The back cover (right) had the headline "The Biggest Shame of Brazilian Football".[82][83]

Brazilian newspapers greeted the result with headlines such as "The Biggest Shame in History" (Lance!), a "Historical humiliation" (Folha de S.Paulo) and "Brazil is slain" (O Globo). German paper Bild heralded the "7–1 Madness" by the "Lightning DFB team". The French L'Équipe simply said, "Le Désastre" (The Disaster).[84] Writing for Sky Sports, Matthew Stanger described the game as the "ultimate embarrassment",[85] while Miguel Delaney of ESPN referred to the match as the Mineirazo, echoing the term invented for the event by the South American Spanish language press.[86]

Barney Ronay in The Guardian described it as "the most humiliating World Cup host nation defeat of all time",[87] and Joe Callaghan of The Independent described it as "the darkest night in Brazil's footballing history".[88] Wyre Davies, the BBC's Rio de Janeiro correspondent, said of Brazilian's reactions at the stadium and fan parks that the "collective sense of shock, embarrassment and national humiliation across Brazil was impossible to ignore".[89] Football journalist Tim Vickery postulated that the result might be the catalyst for overdue reform of Brazilian club football, which in his opinion had become complacent in comparison to other countries, resting on the laurels of the national team's history of success. In his words, this was a chance to "recapture parts of its historic identity and reframe them in a modern, global context".[90] Reports had many comparisons with the Maracanazo that cost Brazil a title at home in 1950,[74] with the Brazilian media even considering that the 2014 defeat redeemed the 1950 squad.[76][91]

Analysts deconstructed all the tactical and technical deficiencies that led to the blowout result. Scolari still relied on the team that won the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup despite many players going through dry spells, and most of them not having any World Cup experience.[92] Neymar was such a focal point that the team barely trained any formations without him.[92] In his absence, Scolari replaced Neymar with Bernard to maintain the attacking tradition of Brazilian football, instead of the "'logical call' [which] was surely to bring in an extra midfielder" against the Germans.[93] The assistant coaches even supported bringing in the more defensive-minded Ramires and Willian.[92] Thus, Fernandinho and Luiz Gustavo were overwhelmed by the Germany midfield trio of Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira and Bastian Schweinsteiger.[93] The defense that had already been questioned in previous games collapsed as Dante was proven to be an inadequate replacement for the suspended Silva, while David Luiz made uncharacteristic errors during the semi-final.[94][93] Other errors included setting up Marcelo to a more attacking play, while Gustavo was tasked with covering him, and the ineffective role of Fred who is often regarded as a tactical striker rather than goal-scoring striker.[95]