In sports like hockey and baseball, a 7-1 loss is embarrassing. When you lose 7-1 in football (soccer to North Americans), it's worse than embarrassing. In fact, it's downright shameful. Especially when you're the host country of the 2014 World Cup, and you get beaten in the semi-finals. That's what happened today to powerhouse Brazil, which had been a pre-tournament favorite to win it all. They'll now play for bronze after being pasted by Germany today.
In football, where a high scoring game could be 4-2 or 3-1, 8 goals is outrageous. Scoring 7 against a team is unheard of. Germany poured in 5 in the first half alone. So, what the fuck happened? Brazil came out strong in the opening minutes, then apparently forgot they were playing a semi-final in the World Cup. Their defence was like Swiss cheese, and the goaltending was, and I'll be generous, not what you'd expect from someone the calibre of a Julio Cesar.
It's not even so much what the Brazilians did wrong (which was pretty much everything), but what the Germans did right. Their blitzkrieg offence was spot on, and their defence stood up, until the 90th minute when Brazil got a consolation goal. Small consolation.
But you have to wonder how badly Brazil's confidence was hurt when their star player, Neymar, suffered a broken vertebrae in the quarterfinal. And the suspension of their captain Thiago Silva after he got 2 yellow cards in the tournament. What role did those play in the Brazilians getting waxed? Simply stated, the Yellow and Blue shit the bed.
And with the lop-sided win, Germany served further notice that they are very much the team to beat. We'll find out Wednesday if it's Argentina or Netherlands to face them Sunday for the crown.
'Nuff said.
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