Eisa "Santo" Ahmed, the Al Wahda and UAE international defender, invited me to his mother's place in Dubai to watch the Brazil versus Germany semi-final. Midnight football with Arabic coffee, dates and Emirati sweets? Yes, please. Invitation accepted.
It starts with incredible passion by the Brazilian players singing the national anthem and 70,000 fans screaming. It is as though the energy of 200 million Brazilians is coursing through our bodies.
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Four minutes into the match and Brazil’s Marcelo seems almost parked in the German half.
“Brazil has to keep their defensive discipline. They are going forward way too much, especially Marcelo. He needs to be careful,” says our professional defender.
In the 11th minute, Germany have a corner from an attack down Marcelo’s side and Thomas Muller volleys it in. Goal, 1-0: 70,000 Brazilians fall silent.
Says Eisa: “Brazil’s players are very nervous and you can see Dante was supposed to man-mark Muller and he lost him. Brazil needs to calm down.”
Brazil return to the attack. Hulk and Marcelo charge forward from the left and misplace a couple of through passes, which leads to Germany on the counter-attack.
“The left side is completely empty and out of position,” Eisa says, with increasing frustration. “Dante is covering up for Marcelo at left back and you see that gap in between him and David Luiz.”
In the 17th minute, Marcelo goes down in the box from a tackle by Philipp Lahm. The stadium roars, all players pressuring the referee. With the rumours about that the referees have tilted in Brazil’s favour, you fear the worst, but the game is waved on.
“That’s a perfect tackle by Philipp Lahm, perfectly timed,” Eisa says. “As a full-back I can tell you, in a big game like this, most defenders will get the math of speed, distance and pressure wrong and give away a penalty. Lahm was calm. No penalty for me.”
He points out the German pressure on Brazil’s high defensive line and out-of-position defenders, and Miroslav Klose makes it 2-0 for Germany in the 23rd minute.
Two minutes later, a couple of defensive mishaps and chaos at the back. Kroos scores and makes it 3-0. Total disaster. It gets worse; the next minute, another Fernandinho mistake leads to Kroos getting his second and it is 4-0.
“Wow. I’m shocked,” Eisa says, proving it by going speechless for a few seconds.
I broach the absence of Neymar (injured) and Thiago Silva (suspended) and ask: “What would you have done if Omar Abdulrahman were missing for a key game like this at the World Cup?”
Eisa says: “I don’t know if they were psychologically affected, but that shouldn’t be an excuse. They have 22 players, so a team should never depend on one player. If they do, it’s disaster waiting to happen.
"If our best player were missing in the UAE team, we will not face any problems. We need our best players, but Mahdi Ali has taught us to never depend on any single player. Always work as a unit, just like the Germans are doing now."
After a couple of neat passes, Sami Khedira makes it five for Germany in 29 minutes. “This is turning into a playground score,” Eisa says.
“I think it’s over. Omar, you can go home now.”
He laughs.
Half-time thoughts?
“The Germans played with patience and confidence. They took advantage from the left side as Marcelo kept bombing forward. They studied that and took clear advantage.”
The idea that this could have been avoided had Brazil kept its shape on defence is a sobering one. Had that back four, players who have Uefa Champions League pedigree with Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Inter Milan, remained at their stations and stayed in position, the score might have been 0-0 after 45 minutes.
Second half. Luiz Felipe Scolari makes three changes, more of a “for the sake of it” decision. Paulinho comes in for Fernandinho, Ramires for Hulk and Willian for the invisible Fred.
Brazil show some life, led by Chelsea’s Brazilians: Oscar, Ramires and Willian. But they cannot get past Manuel Neuer, who makes three great saves.
Perhaps Neymar’s shoes were too big for them to fill.
Minute 69 and another Chelsea player, Andre Schurrle, on the opposite end makes it 6-0. Eisa again laments Brazil’s left-side defence. “It is the weak link.”
Ten minutes later and Schurrle hits the roof of the net with a powerful shot to make it 7-0. Cricket, anyone?
Brazil get a goal in the final minutes. A 7-1 final.
Eisa sums up.
“This game was over in 30 minutes,” he said. “Congrats to Germany; they deserved to win.”
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