No one could have predicted it and few could believe what they were watching. In the crowds, Neymar sat dejected, his dream diminishing before his eyes. Brazilian supporters fought to hold back their tears as they watched Germany rip apart Brazil in a rampant opening 30 minutes of their World Cup Semi Finals match. During spells Germany looked like they had double the players on the pitch than their stunned opponents as they raced into a five nil lead. Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari sat emotionless on the sidelines, his tactical plans lying in tatters by his feet as a hush rolled over the Brazilian fans in the stands. How could his team possibly come back from this?

(Image from AFP)
To be fair in the second half Brazil looked margainly better with the no show Hulk replaced at haf time by Ramires. But Germany still dominated and won the half 2-1 ending the game as a record 7-1 winner. Humiliation complete, Germany advance to Sundays final to face either Argentina or Holland and probably for the first time ever Brazil want Argentina in the final. Not because they would rather see them win than Germany but fear further humilation in the pointless 3rd/4th place play off match with they are now forced to play. But like that game, it’s irrelevant with the main prize snatched away as Brazil crashed out of their own World Cup in stunning fashion.

(Image from Getty)
Germany were quite simply superb, with a passing and finishing game that many would be proud of. In the ranks, World Cup stars featured prominently. Thomas Muller added to his impressive goal tally so far with one whilst Toni Kroos showed his growing value with a thunderous brace. But the applause must go to 36 year old Miroslav Klose who scored the goal that puts his name permanently into the World Cup record books as the all time leading goalscorer with 16. He overtakes former Brazilian striker Ronaldo who finished his career on 15 World Cup goals. Ironically be overtaken by countryman Thomas Muller who at 24 already has 10 goals to his name. Having scored 5 goals in his first World Cup in 2010 and 5 so far in this World Cup its not hard to see why Klose is looking nervously over his shoulder.

(image from Getty)
Neither Holland or Argentina will realish their chances against a Germany in this kind of form. Brazil on the other hand look ripe for the picking, battered black and blue by Germany, their pride in the gutter. As the squad sulked off the pitch at the end of a tiring 90 minutes that never looked like ending with tears pouring down their faces, Brazil look like a shell of their former selfs. Yes they missed Neymar and probably more importantly Thiago Silva but this mauling was coming. Over reliance on the boy genius from Barca hurt them badly when injury occured. No plan b hurt more. A lack of a Kaka, Robinho or even Ronaldinho option was clear as Scolari puzzled over what to do to repair the damage. Oscar was the only shining light in what was a dismal performance from the entire team in particular captain for the day David Luiz who made several key errors during the 90 minutes. Few in Brazil will watch Sundays final and fewer Saturdays playoff. Boos and jeers helped the players from the pitch yesterday and nobody can blame them. Brazil failed to show up, and pay the penalty for it. Germany move on to the final and are 90 mins away from destiny of their own making. For Brazil, it’s back to the drawing board once again and reflection time for what went wrong during the tournament everyone thought they would win.
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