Germany poured in the goals on Tuesday to hand Brazil their heaviest World Cup loss ever with an astounding 7-1 rout in the semifinals that stunned the host nation.
Germany poured in the goals on Tuesday to hand Brazil their heaviest World Cup loss ever with an astounding 7-1 rout in the semifinals that stunned the host nation.
German forward Miroslav Klose scored a record-setting 16th career World Cup goal in a five-goal spurt in the first half as Brazil’s defense was torn apart.
The Germans reached their eighth final and will face either Argentina or the Netherlands on Sunday at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil’s previous biggest World Cup loss was 3-0 to France in the 1998 final but this matched their biggest ever margin of defeat in any competition, equalling a 6-0 loss to Uruguay in 1920 in the South American championship.
The defence looked brittle with the absence of skipper Thiago Silva as well as the attack without their influential forward Neymar, who fractured a vertebra after getting kneed in the back in the quarterfinal win over Colombia. David Luiz stood in as captain as he partnered Dante in defense but Germany had other plans.
Toni Kroos and Andre Schuerrle scored two goals each, while Thomas Mueller and Sami Khedira added the others as the Germans routed the sorry hosts. Even though Oscar pulled off a late goal back for Brazil, boos ringed around the stadium as home fans left in disbelief and shell shocked. It was Germany’s biggest World Cup win since routing Saudi Arabia 8-0 in a group match in 2002. Lazio forward Klose scored his record goal in the 23rd minute and thus entered the record books of scoring 16 World Cup goals beating that of Brazilian striker Ronaldo’s 15 goals. The German had his original shot saved, but he followed up as Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar spilled the ball, easily scoring from the rebound.
Mayhem continued as Toni Kroos scored his first goal in the 25th minute, knocking in a cross from Philipp Lahm. He made it 4-0 a minute later, beating Cesar after a defensive mistake from Fernandinho left the ball on the feet of Khedira.
Mueller scored the first goal, one-timing a corner from Kroos past Cesar in the 11th minute. Khedira made it 5-0 in the 29th, taking a pass from Mesut Ozil and again beating Cesar. Schuerrle, who came on for Klose in the 58th minute, scored from a cross by Lahm in the 69th, and then knocked a shot off the underside of the crossbar and into the net in the 79th. It’s the first time Brazil had allowed five goals in a World Cup match since the 1938 tournament in France, when the team beat Poland 6-5 in extra time.
If there this Brazilian team had to be rated after the game, the whole side would qualify for a zero for their shoddy performance on field. Except for winger Bernard who tried himself on the field, the rest of the lot looked hapless. For Germany, this win gives them a morale-boost ahead of the Finals on Sunday. Whether it’s Netherlands or Argentina, the Germans would welcome with ‘open arms’!
