2014 World Cup - Day 19 - Brazil vs Germany

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Well, that sucked!!! (to put it mildly)

To be more specific, the result sucked, the fact Brazil was dominated and eliminated from the World Cup 25 minutes into the game sucked. I still see the positive side and value the experience of seeing soccer history being created live in front of my eyes. It is why I’m here in the first place, to be a part of it and see it through to the end. I want to the see someone lift the trophy. Obviously, I would rather see Brazil lift it, as I noted the other day, but Germany put on a clinic from beginning to end and deserves to play for the title. As a fan of the game, I can pretty easily digest such a result.

Let’s back up a bit. The only thing I had in mind today was the game. I basically got up, got ready and headed out the door. The game was to start at 5pm, but I was out the door around 1pm. I took a bus and got off near the stadium. A lady on the bus saw I was wearing yellow and offered to show me the way. We took a 10-minute walk up a hill, and when we got there, yellow was all over the place. Very few Germans walking around from what I could see. I hung out outside watching people arrive until 2pm, which is when the doors opened. Once inside, I took some photos, grabbed my beer and went down a little closer to the field. There, I chatted with a security guard for a little while about the World Cup, what games he had worked, where he was during the Brazil vs Chile penalty shootout, etc... While we waited, the big screen was showing the Brazil bus leaving the hotel and bringing the team to the stadium. We followed along the entire route up until they went underneath the stadium and made their way into the locker rooms. It was pretty neat, and the stadium roared once they pulled in.

With 1 hour to go, I grabbed a burger and went to my seat. Just as I finished my snack, my Ecuadorian friend Francisco arrived and his seat was right next to me. I met Francisco in Rio during the France vs Germany game, and we had a good time cheering for both teams that day. I helped him find a hostel here in Belo Horizonte as he was having some trouble. When he arrived, we took some photos and he gave me a Neymar mask. He was ready to cheer for Brazil.

When the stadium finally filled up, it was all yellow with the exception of one big German section and 2 smaller ones. We were obviously louder, but Brazil has a long way to go with regards to chants. We are never really synchronized, we don’t have a huge repertoire and our songs kind of suck. I’ll give you an example. During this game, the chant we sang louder was something like this:

“1000 goals, 1000 goals, 1000 goals, 1000 goals, 1000 goals,
Only Pele, only Pele,
Maradona snorts cocaine”

Does that make sense to anyone? Not to me, so out of context. Argentina fans, on the other hand, prepare a song for each World Cup, and everyone knows the words and sings together. It’s cool to see. The Germans are also really good at it. They even came up with a new in the second half of the game. More on that later.

The moment I had been waiting for since the Confederations Cup Final last year was upon us. On that day, I was in Saskatchewan at the Dean farm watching videos on my phone, and noticed how the Brazilian crowd kept singing the National Anthem past the music. My day had finally arrived, and I have to say, it was one of the coolest things I have ever been a part of. It was unreal. The video I took just simply does not do it justice. It was loud!!!! It is very likely we will never be able to witness this again after Brazil plays the 3^rd place game in a few days. In fact, I wonder if people will be in the mood that day considering how mad everyone is.

I thought we were going to have a close game, with few chances, and boy was I wrong. Brazil’s coach, Scolari, had 2 options to choose from as far as filling up the spot Neymar left behind with his injury. Put a speedy youngster named Bernard or put an extra midfielder and plug the middle. On TV, everyone thought he’d go with the latter; he chose to go with Bernard, meaning 1 less player in the middle to battle the powerful German midfield. Ultimately, this proved crucial and some are calling his decision suicidal.

From above, where my seat was, you could see how organized Germany was, how they pressured the ball and took gaps away when they didn’t have the ball. They are so disciplined. When they had the ball, you could see how easily they moved the ball, how Luis Gustavo, Paulinho and Fernandinho struggled chasing the ball and making their way to where they should already have been. The difference between the 2 was night and day, and it lasted all night. Germany took the lead 11 minutes in off a corner and never looked back. Nobody marked Mueller, or his marker got crossed and he ended being wide open.

This took the air out of the stadium a bit, but we continued to cheer and push the team. The energy in the stadium was something I had never witnessed before, you could honestly feel it. When Brazil pushed up the field and everyone scream and yelled, it became evident to me why Brazil’s players have been crying the entire World Cup. It’s just simply too much pressure, they were not ready for it. And with Dante substituting our suspended captain on defense, the worst was yet to come.

In matter of a few minutes, Germany scored 4 more goals. They would score, I would get up, take some pictures, sit down, and then have to get up again to take photos of the following goals. The manner in which they were scoring was shocking. It was just like a practice, little give-and-go’s ultimately ended by a tap into an open net. Things happen in soccer and bad goals are scored all the time, but to have 4 bad goals scored in 6 minutes in the semi-final of a World Cup on home turf? Well, by minute 29, the game was over and the crowd livid. I was quiet and talking to Francisco about what we had just witnessed, and kind of joked a bit. Everyone else was getting up and screaming at players, swearing, booing, chanting “ole”, etc... If there’s one thing I hate is Brazilian soccer fans!! I had to put up with a woman beside bitch and whine here in there giving her opinion about what was wrong and insulting players. Worse is to hear everyone blame a single player in unison after said player missed a pass or fell. They for the first hint of an error and that player is now a target throughout the game. Fred was this guy today. He hasn’t done much the entire World Cup and we don’t necessarily have anyone better on the bench, so patience has been thin with him. Add 5 goals in the first 29 minutes and the second Fred falls or loses a ball, the entire place went nuts. Then they started a chant telling Fred to go F himself, and booed him at every touch. Hulk was also driving everyone nuts. The players were abandoned and insulted in the moments they most needed support. Ahhh, it’s the Brazilian way. Everyone is happy to gloat about 5 World Cup titles, but when hopes for #6 are as good as gone, they are done, embarrassed. Makes me sick.

Not much happened in the second half other than Germany continued to play smart and added 2 more goals to make it 7-0 at one point. Just ridiculous. Ozil had a breakaway and missed the net, but that could have easily been #8. Brazil got a late goal but by that time, nothing mattered really. The game had been over long ago and some people had even left at halftime. The Germans came up with a new chant in the second half: “Rio de Janeiro, oh, oh , oh”. Final score: 7-1, Brazil’s worst loss in World Cup history.

Just before the final whistle, the stadium announcer instructed the Germans to stay in their seats until all Brazilians left the stadium. There was concern that something would happen to them as they left with the Brazilian crowd. I couldn’t care less, I’m not the type to start a fight with an opposing fan because my team sucked today. Another example of stupid, stupid Brazilians. I didn’t see anything happen with my own eyes, but was told some fights broke out near the bathrooms. After the game was over, I actually went and hung out right beside the Germans watching them celebrate. It was cool, they were ecstatic and rightfully so.

Afterwards, I took the bus back home and that was that. I wasn’t as sad as I had been in past World Cups. The feeling I had was similar to how I felt after Brazil was dominated by France in the Final of the 1998 World Cup. Brazil lost 3-0 on that day and was never in the game. At that time, I was not sad at all because Brazil just did not deserve to win that game. It was that simple. The same can be said about today.

I’ll end here with something I posted on Facebook after the game. Everyone now has theories as to what went wrong and what needs to be done in the future. I think we don’t have to look too far for an example to follow. German players that spanked us today lost the World Cup Final to us in 2002 (Klose), lost the World Cup Semi-final at home in 2006 to Italy, lost the Euro Final to Spain in 2008, lost the World Cup Semi-final to Spain in 2010 and lost the Euro Final to Spain (4-0) in 2012. This tells you a little bit about the character and resilience of this team. Germany deserved it, Brazil didn't...now let’s move on and learn from this German team. We just had our first bump or low point, now let’s see how we react.

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