Beaten and battered: Germany deal historic defeat to Brazil to reach World Cup final

It was a rout from the start, with Germany scoring five times within the first half-hour to lead Brazil to what will surely go down as a truly infamous defeat on Tuesday night, 7-1.

Marcelo of Brazil reacts after his team concedes a seventh goal to Germany in their 7-1 World Cup semi-final loss on Tuesday night. Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters / July 8, 2014

Brazil’s World Cup dream was smashed into oblivion as majestic Germany ran riot to win an extraordinary semi-final 7-1 and send the South American hosts crashing to the worst defeat since losing 6-0 to Uruguay in 1920.

Sixty-four years after Brazil was plunged into national mourning after their loss in the 1950 final, the hosts were torn apart in a defeat likely to be every bit as traumatic as the fabled “Maracanazo”.

“Apologies to everybody, apologies to all the Brazilian people,” said a tearful David Luiz after the mauling in Belo Horizonte.

“I just wanted to see my people smile. We all know how important it was for me to see all of Brazil be happy, at least because of football.

“They were better than us. They prepared better. They played better.

“It’s a very sad day but it’s also a day from which to learn.”

Germany advanced to Sunday’s final in the Maracana after a brilliant first-half blitz which included a burst of four goals in six minutes.

Thomas Muller opened the scoring on 11 minutes, punishing poor Brazilian marking at a corner to make it 1-0.

Brazil, missing suspended captain Thiago Silva, tried to regroup but there was no respite.

Miroslav Klose’s cool finish on 23 minutes – which made him the World Cup’s all-time top scorer, with 16 goals – was the cue for the floodgates to open.

Toni Kroos struck twice in the 24th and 26th minutes to make it 4-0 and then Sami Khedira rounded off another clinical move to make it 5-0 on 29 minutes.

Dead and buried inside half an hour, the crowd at the Mineirao Stadium was stunned into silence.

Many fans burst into tears as they struggled to comprehend the enormity of what was taking place.

“This was not to be expected,” the Bayern Munich star Muller said after his team trounced the World Cup hosts. “I don’t know what to say, to be honest.

“I can’t believe it. It’s something totally crazy. It just went well today.”

Muller quickly urged his team to put the result behind them as they focus on Sunday’s final.

“Now we have to pull through one more time, we have to fight to get this thing.”

After the fifth goal, well before half time, hundreds of people left their expensive seats.

A section of the crowd chanted obscenities against the team and Dilma Rousseff, the country’s president, who during the first four weeks of the tournament had enjoyed a reprieve from protests over the record US$11 billion (Dh40.4bn) spent to host the tournament.

Across the nation, others fans shouted at their televisions and abandoned public screenings.

Though Brazil rallied at the start of the second half, the torture continued on 69 minutes when Andre Schurrle swept in Germany’s sixth.

This time boos rang out around the Mineirao as the Germans celebrated.

Schurrle scored his second on 79 minutes to make it 7-0 and was greeted by a burst of applause as Brazilian fans saluted Germany’s wonderful exhibition of attacking football.

Only a late goal by Oscar kept it from being the first seven-goal defeat in Brazil’s history.

Brazil had gone into the match riding a fervent wave of national emotion, determined to clinch a place in the final to honour the injured striker Neymar.

The crowd roared chants of “Neymar, Neymar” just before kickoff, following a full-throated rendition of the national anthem that saw captain David Luiz proudly holding up the injured striker’s No 10 shirt.

But Muller’s early strike punctured the fervent mood, and when the goals started flying in, after Klose made it 2-0, there was no way back for Brazil.

In the final, Germany will play the winner of Wednesday’s semi-final between the Netherlands and Argentina.

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