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Germany dismantles Brazil to eliminate hosts in shocking lopsided semifinal

That sucks

By CARL SETTERLUND

Germany scored five times in the opening 29 minutes, four of them in a decisive six-minute stretch, to destroy host Brazil, 7-1, in a semifinal at Estádio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte.

Miroslav Klose’s 23rd-minute tally ended up being the winner and started a run on goals. Klose had his initial try stopped by Toronto FC keeper Júlio César, but calmly netted on the rebound.

Regardless of it being the goal to send Germany through into the final, Klose’s strike was historic in its own right, making the 36-year-old the all-time leading World Cup goal scorer with 16.

Thomas Müller opened scoring in the 11th minute off a right-sided corner by Kroos. Müller found himself unmarked at the far side of the six-yard box for a side-footed finish out of the air.

The 24-year-old Müller now has five goals in the tournament to lead Germany and is just one goal behind Colombia’s James Rodriguez in the race for the Golden Boot.

The Bayern Munich forward won the Golden Boot with five goals at the 2010 World Cup and could potentially become the first player to win the award twice.

Toni Kroos scored twice in the three minutes following Klose’s record breaker, while André Schürrle helped build on a 5-0 halftime lead with goals in the 69th and 79th minutes.

The Germans advance to play the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between Argentina and the Netherlands. The World Cup final will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at Estádio Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro.

Oscar was able to net a late consolation goal for Brazil in the 90th minute.

The Brazilians aren’t done just yet. They’ll have a chance to reclaim some pride in the third-place game at 4 p.m. Saturday in Brasília against the loser of the other semifinal.

Brazil was notably without two of its biggest stars. Superstar striker Neymar suffered a broken vertebrae in his lower back in Brazil’s quarterfinal against Colombia, while center back and captain Thiago Silva missed the game due to yellow card accumulation.

Germany’s Manuel Neuer made seven saves en route to the victory, while César had three saves.

Kroos and Müller were both invaluable during the Germans’ opening stretch. After teaming up on the opener, Kroos played Müller into the box on a one-two to set up Klose’s winner.

Kroos made it 3-0 in the 24th after Müller may or may not have allowed the ball to dummy through on a right-sided cross by Phillipp Lahm. Kroos was there at the far end of the box and guided a well-aimed volley inside the left post past the diving César.

Early on in the 26th minute, Kroos stole the ball away from Fernandinho and played it out left in front of him to Sami Khedira. He unselfishly passed up the shot and gave it right back, sending César and Brazilian defender Dante both spinning as Kroos completed his brace.

Khedira got his soon after in the 29th minute to up the lead to an incredible 5-0 margin under a half hour in. It was the quickest any team has ever scored five goals in the World Cup.

Center back Mats Hummels made a long run forward on the play, carrying the ball to the edge of the offensive third before yielding it to Khedira.

Similar to the previous goal he played it left to Mesut Özil, who drew the defense and then gave it back for Khedira to finish into the bottom left corner.

The 58th-minute substitute Schürrle helped tack on in the 69th minute on a ball from the right side by Lahm. He and Müller both made sharp runs to the ball, but Schürrle got their first to bang home a low shot past César inside the right post.

Schürrle’s second goal in the 79th minute was the most skillful of the match. Müller lofted it in from the left stick and Schürrle settled it out of the air in stride with his right foot before pinging his lefty shot off the crossbar and in.

Oscar tallied on the counterattack in the final minute of regulation time, getting a ball over the top down the left sideline from Marcelo. Neuer and Jérome Boateng were both left out of position as Oscar cut in on his right foot and slotted it in to deny Germany the shutout.

Brazil manager Luiz Felipe Scolari made a pair of substitutes around halftime that helped regain some offensive punch as Paulinho and Ramires combined for seven shots on target.

Germany has been the most consistently strong team at the World Cup over the last three decades, but haven’t won the tournament since 1990. The Germans have also finished either second or third five times in the previous eight World Cups dating back to 1982.

Brazil was denied its first trip to the World Cup final since 2002.

Comments

  1. Well, I guess JK looks smarter than some gave him credit for. For those who thought the USA should play a higher line and attack more against Germany, I give you the Brazil results with a team that is more talented than the USA individually. Still trying to figure out what Luiz was doing sliding into tackles like a midfielder with no one behind him. He wasn’t even in the picture on a few of tthe goals which is inexcusable. Felt sorry for the fans as they looked completely devastated.

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  2. Sure, Germany is weak defensively. The ease which Oscar torched Boateng comes to mind. The US, Ghana, and Algeria had some success using their speed to attack Germany. Can Argentina or Holland exploit the weakness? Maybe, maybe not. It is certain possible that 2014 Messi will have a great game and avenge the beating Germany administered on Argentina in the 2010 quarters. But the way that Germany bottled up the Argentinians four years ago makes me think the Argentinians can’t beat Germany. Argentina was almost cracked by a Swiss team, probably not as good as the US. Argentina struggled against Iran and only escaped a draw thanks to a Messi goal in injury time. The Dutch have better athletes, but I think they are a known commodity to Germany. Whomever wins today, may have one advantage: that Germany peaked yesterday. Today’s winner is hoping that Germany’s lucky seven is the WC version of the NY Giants beating the Vikings 44-0 in the NFC championship in 2001 and then losing the Super Bowl 33-7 to the Ravens.

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    • The lopsided victory might also portend a very boring final. Whoever plays Germany might decide to just “park the bus.”

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  3. It was a German showcase. However neither Argentina or the Netherlands are like Brazil. They pressure the ball, defend, and their wings and even forwards will track back as well. There were moments, even in this rout, where the German defense looked vulnerable to the cutting middle-attack style. So I think they will have trouble in the final, and I think Argentina would pose the main threat: An organized back 4 (similar to Algeria which gave Germany all they could handle), and an up-the-middle offensive approach which netted Ghana 2 goals (although Argentina is more skill and finesse than force).

    I think Germany should cheer for the Netherlands in tonight’s semi; even if their back 4 will get tested by the Dutch it is a style they are used to, and Neuer can play his “sweeper-keeper” role more often.

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    • I agree. I think Argentina is stronger defensively, the Dutch are more potent on offense. A game with Argentina should be close. A German and Dutch final could produce many different outcomes.

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      • Agree, also. Both the Dutch and the Argentines will be tough for the Germans–much more organized. The Argentines, especially, showed how organized their defense is against Belgium. Should be a great final either way.

        I don’t know if I’ve ever seen such an epic mental collapse. Say what you want about the US technically–we’ve got Brazil beat in head games.

      • I don’t know. Argentina only look really organized defensively when they are sitting on a lead, and park to DM’s in front of the back line. When they are looking for goals their back line has looked shaky.

  4. This is probably the first time there’s been such a big game with 7 goals scored and not a single one of them was the keeper’s fault. Seriously, Julio Cesar had a good game, and a lesser keeper would have let in double digits. Unbelievable.

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  5. Pity,….back to the favelas for 11MM Brazilians. Brazil played like a bunch of Nancy-boys. Things got so out of hand,…Mesut Ozil eyes got big and wide,….

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  6. Embarrassing. Scolari could have gone to Copacabana and picked 11 random guys playing there, and they probably wouldn’t have done worse. At least the 11 random guys wouldn’t have given up after the second goal.

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  7. So… Fred.

    Of course, it’s not his fault that his inept teammates let in seven goals. And I hate to pile on the poor guy, who’s enduring enough abuse already right now. But, seriously… has there ever been a worse striker on a major team? I mean, we (sometimes) complain about Altidore, but Altidore is far more useful than Fred is. Heck, I think I’d rather have Eddie Johnson leading my attack.

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    • I’m sorry. But anyone who tries to say there isn’t an obvious gulf in quality between Brazil and Germany after this match is kidding themselves. Yes, there are a lot of names in those yellow shirts.

      1) A lot of them are overblown reputations.

      2) Name players does not a team make. Scolari made a career out of riding his luck and Brazilian individual excellence. It blew up in his face today.

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    • Agreed. Best comment about Fred was on the BBC during the Mexico match when he was being subbed: “Warm up Fred, you’re coming off.”

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    • Not really, all Germany needed was a draw to win the group.

      In fairness, Germany was gunning for more than one goal and didn’t get it, that is why I say U.S. is close to being as good as Brazil.

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      • Jurgen and his buddy Low had an agreement: beat us by only one goal – you win the group and US goes through on GD!

      • Did Germany also have a deal with Algeria to let them take it to extra time? The only thing to read into this match is Brazil was awful.

      • Jack,

        Not really.

        The US got a lot of flak from US fans for coming out defensively against Belgium.

        While not everyone will put 7 goals by you, this game is a reminder of how quickly things can get out of control at this level.

      • come on GW, the US only gets heat for this style of play because our coach ripped it when we played it before he arrived even tho it made sense to play that way before, and also vs. Belgium, Ghana, Germany, etc. it’s a simple equation on this. of course we played that way vs. Belgium!

      • beachbum,

        Your memory is flawed. Either that or you weren’t paying that much attention in the first place

        JK never ripped “that style” per se. He always left his options open. JK is trying to move away from “that style” and said it would take time but has never ruled out doing whatever is necessary.

        After all, he’s the guy who capped Alan Gordon for the match at Azteca. I was hoping he would cap Lenhart but Gordon is just as good. And he is also the only guy in America who all along, was willing to explore the idea that Beckerman could be a World Cup starter.

        You also might want to watch the teams JK actually played on. I remember many of them being extremely hard to beat and populated with quite a few hard men, some of whom were borderline psychotics. And while you are at it watch the 1990 WC final when Germany beat Argentina and JK won his medal. It is the most cynical, brutal, violent defensive World Cup game I have ever seen. But I doubt JK cares about that. He remembers that they won.

        When it comes to winning a game, both as a player and as a manager, JK doesn’t care what anyone else thinks he’s quite ruthless and cold blooded. You saw how he dealt with Boca, LD, and Goodson. Evans, ET. al.

        Managers are not nice guys. They have to be decisive. I was happy to see a cold blooded, ruthless SOB as USMNT manager.

        In fact I would say the posters on SBI have been far more vicious than JK in their evisceration of Bob Bradley, who most of you wanted burned at the stake along with Rico Clark and Jonny Bornstein, and his empty bucket, defensive, score only on the counter or on set pieces style.

        You want to get on people for ripping the “American “ style? Look at the USMNT “fans” who post on SBI the ones who ran BB out of town on a rail..

        The difference between 2014 and 2010 is the 2014 team has a much more coherent attacking style and more ability to attack than the 2010 team.

        Just to jog your memory, quotes from April, 2012:
        “Klinsmann understands that the transition from former coach Bob Bradley’s defensive style to a more attacking style will take time, and says that it’s as much mental as it is physical.”
        “This style takes a lot of work because the more we’re proactive, the more we have to be prepared to run on both sides of the ball,” Klinsmann said. “But it’s not only the physical side. The mental side also requires more intensity and focus. We have to anticipate the game and execute faster. We constantly have to stay in the game and can’t allow little breaks in our concentration. This mentality does not come over night. This is a process that has to develop in the minds of the players. They have to be willing to make the commitment to go through the process. They have to put a lot of hard work into that like the players on the best teams do.”
        “Obviously, my highest priority is preparing the national team so we qualify for Brazil and then do well in the World Cup.”

  8. The only thing I can say, and I am sure expat would agree, is: How can Julian Green be any good when he has only played 4th division soccer, and had only 2 minutes playing time as a professional.

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      • Did Luiz diss you in a past life? The ball got past 10 others. The MF was conceded, the wings wide open, the GK ballwatching, etc. It was a complete and total and utter collapse all around. Neymar and Silva might have mitigated the loss, but this was not caused by 1 bad player or 2 missing ones. Thanks for the gifs though. Luiz will want 3 of those back.

      • Naw, I dislike Luiz too. He gets talked up as amazing but I think he is incredibly sloppy and doesn’t really know his position.

        He is also apparently quite lazy but that’s just this game apparently.

      • Fernandinho was AWFUL tracking midfield runs as well. I blame him for at least 2 of them. I don’t know how to make gifs though, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. 🙂

      • His movement off the ball was pretty listless. I think Muller and the others got in his head a bit when they got into it in first half. Seemed like a pouty & mentally weak performance to me.

      • Remember, Luiz was their CAPTAIN on this day. And he was too busy trying to play Box-to-box midfielder to remember he was a centerback with MARKING responsibilities.

        Yes, FOUR goals are on his shoulders today. And while I’ll agree he’s got all the Brazilian talent with the ball on his foot, and hits pretty free kicks, he can’t be bothered to do the marking responsibilities that are the major part of his job.

      • He tried to take the team on his shoulders. But no one could. And it was stupid to try as a defender.

      • Has anyone brought up the possibility of match fixing yet? On a few of the goals it looked like defenders completely stopped trying or marking.

        The quantities of money involved in global betting on a match like this could be convincing.

      • I’m sure all of Brazil is talking about that possibility. The scoreline is so inexplicable that you can’t ignore the possibility.

      • Yup, I’d be willing to bet (haha) that the truth comes out at some point. The lack of Brazilian defending is totally suspect.

      • OR maybe Brazil is vastly overrated & has been getting by on reputation & fortunate calls this tiurney.

      • match fixing would not explain 7-1. Match fixing might explain a 3-1. Seven goals is too much and would draw the attention of the authorities.

      • Keep watching marcelo throughout the match, I won’t be suprised if he was involved in some match fixing. There were couple of goals he literally gave way to the ball added to him not falling back to defend etc.

    • Luiz’ problem was he did not adjust to missing Silva. Silva stays home and directs the defense when Luiz ranges forward. Without Luiz forward, Brazil could not work through the center of the field. With him forward, they could not defend. The lack of Neymar exposed (as if we did not already know) how woeful the attacking end of the Brazilian formation was. Maicon was the only midfielder in the first half to hold possession. What was Scolari thinking? Hulk as an outside forward does not work. The second half formation was better in that the defense did not get the play coming back at them every time the forward line touched it, but there was still no one to finish.

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      • Good point re the Luiz – Silva understanding. The guy is a mutimillionaire champions league euro star. Remembering that Silva isnt there to cover for you should have been easy, heck, next to Neymar, it’s all anyone could talk about in the buildup to the game. Shameful.

      • This is spot on.

        I thought David Luiz had a horrific game. If you watch Luiz’s play in the first 30 minutes, he is impersonating a center forward or CAM instead of playing center back. Brazil was basically playing a 3-6-1 with Luiz ranging up to the front. Combine that with the utterly awful games by the two DMs and that’s why the commentators kept saying that Brazil had no shape. There were only three guys playing defense! No wonder there was no defensive shape.

        It would be fascinating to know whether this was big Phil’s plan going into the game or whether Luiz’s natural tendencies caused him to be so poorly positioned the first 30 minutes. Given Neymar’s absence and Fred and Hulk’s terrible play in this WC, you almost get the feeling that Phil told Luiz to play so forward. If that’s the case, it would probably be the most spectacular tactical FAIL of all time in a World Cup.

        I say all this, BTW, as a Chelsea fan who has rooted for Luiz the past few years and thought Morinho was wrong to bench him this season and to sell him.

  9. When they lost 0-6 to Uruguay in 1950, they changed their kit to the now famous yellow one. What changes are coming, I wonder?

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    • To clarify, Uruguay beat Brazil 2-1 in the 1950 final in Brazil. I don’t know if a new kit can fix this 1…

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      • Doh! Youre right! Copa America was the 0-6 or 0-5, sorry.
        They still have a 3rd place game to play. That should be interesting.
        I think if they play and beat ARG for 3d place, that might be something for them to celebrate.

  10. I almost think I should feel bad for thinking of this as the “Anybody But Brazil” WC for their diving and arrogance.

    Nah.

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  11. So I guess Omar and Matt aren’t as substandard as we though. Dante and Luis are starters for Bayern and Chelsea respectively, so maybe our guys are more ready for prime time that we give them credit for.

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      • David Luiz is an excellent defender. Don’t judge a guy on one bad performance. Besides, you can’t blame the 7 goals on him.

      • Scroll down and look at my comment. You could easily blame 4 goals on him today. Like Klinsmann said we give these guy to much respect!

      • Not judging. Just pointing out irony that our guys, Omar, in particular get dumped on continually whereas Dante and David Luis and Pepe and Silva are lauded as the ideal and they all did things in this World Cup that were monumentally stupid. Obviously I would trade Gonzo and Besler for Dante and David Luis in a heartbeat but the gap isn’t as big as everybody seems to say. Just to be fair Mertesacker and Boetang aren’t all that either.

      • On the balance of this game, I’d stick with Gonzalez and Besler. Each might make two stupid decisions per game, but neither would collapse like Brazil’s center-backs.

      • Thiago Silva is arguably the best CB in the world, certainly in the top 5. It is silly to suggest there’s not much quality gap between him and Omar simply because Silva picked up a dumb yellow card in the quarterfinal. As for the others, you’ve mentioned, they are not as good as Silva, but they generally performed well for their club and national teams against a high level competition. Until Gonzo and Besler move to a stronger league and test themselves on a regular basis against tough competition, it is hard to judge how big is the gap between them and the guys that play on some of the top teams in the top 3 leagues in the world. One bad game or a couple bad decisions does not define the player’s overall quality – you have to look at the overall body of their work (e.g. Zidan, Maradona, etc).

      • Last game he was the best player on the pitch and scored a stunning free kick goal. You can’t judge a man by one game.

    • Oh please, they are all fantastic players. A few bad games or bad tournament makes them bad players? Michael Bradley had a subpar tournament. Does that flat out make him a bad player?

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      • Oh, Fast Freddie, take it easy. By American standards he’s a pretty darn good player. Give the guy a break for not have his skills properly exploited by Klinsmeister in the Cup.

      • I agree re Bradley, but to be fair to Klinsmann, elite players are expected to be able to play multiple positions in modern soccer. Robben, who normally plays on the wing, was asked to play a striker in 3-5-2 formation that Holland deployed quite a bit. Joachim Low and Pep Guardiola asked Lahm to play as a central midfielder instead of his preferred left and right back positions. During his days at Barca, Pep used Danny Danny Alves as a defender, midfielder and even right forward.

      • Yes, we agree. Bradley is not a world class player. But, as you noted earlier, “By American standards he’s a pretty darn good player.” .

      • Seems to me that MB is a vastly better player the smaller the stakes. Get him into a high stakes meaningful matchup and he seems to have trouble swallowing…

  12. Should have been 8-0 to finalize the embarassment. Ozil puts that last shot wide? And a last minute defensive lapse? A clean sheet would have been nice. A wonderful day for die Mannschaft and a wonderful day for Deutschland! Somewhere Jurgen is saying…. “now you know vy vee play so defensively against zee Germans.” A blowout like this and we might have seen a little more CR7…

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    • Totally. Brazilians may never look at football the same way again, esp. when they consider what they got for their investment in this WC. Was their team’s performance a metaphor for the country at large?

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    • Yeah, no doubt, considering that thousands of Brazilians don’t have decent health care, education and other public services. FIFA took ’em for a ride. The people in the favelas have every right to be indignant.

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  13. come on… this game was much closer than the scoreline indicates… there were several times when Brazilian defenders were almost wthin yards of the Germans passing and shooting at their net… if only Germany had Bernard’s touch and crosses, Oscar’s and Fred’s ability to trap the ball and withstand minimal contact, this game would be closer by a goal or two

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  14. Well I think everyone could see Brazil losing but wow, that was embarrassing. Like I said earlier:
    Sooo… I’m thinking that the Germany B team should have done better than the round of 16 after Germany A look soooooo good

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  15. Hahahaha wow! You could tell from the first game this Brazil team would not be able to handle this pressure. Mentally weak team held together by Silva and Neymar’s excellent play. David Luiz is an incredibly overrated defender and not worth the money PSG is paying him. Got shredded by competent attackers. Crying, really? Don’t be such a p*ssy.

    Are you really telling me Pato and Lucas couldn’t have helped this team? I mean no ones going to win with Fred and Jo as their forwards.

    On another note holy f*cking blitzkrieg Germany looks good. Can you imagine if Reus and Gundogan were healthy? Ozil has had a really weak WC though and should be dropped

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    • This is one case where perhaps a qualifying campaign might have been beneficial because a trip to Uruguay or Argentina and a tailkicking of even part of this level would have prompted changes, but as the host country they can coast, and with their rep teams handle them with kid gloves. They show up to the tournament and then it becomes clear they lack tempo, and an attacking presence. And now we see they lack a defense, which CONMEBOL would have shown.

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      • and Sven Bender. Khedira is their only defensive mid, not considering the converted lahm, and even he was only recently cleared from injury. Khedira is only now rounding into some sort of fitness/form; I thought he had a great game.

        But yes, a fully healthy Germany would have been even more intimidating. Schmelzer is another one that comes to mind.

    • They should call it “Hässliche Spiel!” instead!
      Unglaublich, muss ich sagen!

      I hope I can still remember from my days of German classes in school!

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    • Seems like the team’s back was broken a few days ago.

      But seriously, Germany has looked sharp to me for a few years — remember them doing a similar burst on Ireland during quali in Dublin — and showed up in Brazil playing clockwork ball in a definite style. Brazil had a Confed Cup moment against a Spain team that didn’t even get out of its group, but kind of struggled to work its way up the gears this tournament. Looked sloppy, didn’t seem to have a drilled approach. Tempo was awful.

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