Host Brazil Stunned by Germany in Semifinal
Source: NY TIMES
BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil The fireworks began at dawn. All around this city, loud pops and bangs rang out as men and women and children dressed in yellow set off flares and beeped car horns. It was supposed to be a magical day. The Brazilian national soccer team, playing at home, was one game away from a World Cup final.
No one could have guessed the tears would come before halftime. No one could have imagined there would be flags burning in the streets before dinner. Certainly no one could have envisioned that Brazilian fans, watching their team play in a semifinal, would ever consider leaving the stadium long before the end of the game.
It all happened. The 2014 World Cup, first plagued by questions about financing and protests and infrastructure and construction, then buoyed by scads of goals and dramatic finishes and a contagious spirit of exuberance and joy from the locals, will ultimately be remembered for this: the home team, on the precipice of glory, being throttled like an overmatched junior varsity squad who somehow stumbled into the wrong game.
The final score was Germany 7, Brazil 1. It felt like Germany 70, Brazil 1. By the end, the Germans were barely celebrating their goals and the Brazilians, starting with their coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, could manage little more than blank stares. In the stands, the Brazilian fans the ones who stayed around at least passed the time by cycling through obscene chants about each player as well as the Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/09/sports/worldcup/world-cup-2014-host-brazil-stunned-7-1-by-germany-in-semifinal.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LargeMediaHeadlineSum&module=photo-spot-region®ion=photo-spot&WT.nav=photo-spot
ehrnst
(32,640 posts)Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)Wherein Rummy comes in and tells Bush that 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, and Bush replies 'My God, I had no idea there were that many soldiers there!' (ie, Bush thinks 'brazillion' is a word.)
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)Submariner
(12,497 posts)[link:
|KamaAina
(78,249 posts)itsrobert
(14,157 posts)I heard people were retweeting images from 2013 saying it was happening now.
longship
(40,416 posts)Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)Bohemianwriter
(978 posts)complained about how few goals are scored in football....
ChairmanAgnostic
(28,017 posts)That rarely happens, and only when your team really really REALLY sucks.
Like the home team today.
tularetom
(23,664 posts)Bohemianwriter
(978 posts)This years team have been a disappointment.
Call me a romantic, but my heroes of my boyhood days, Zico, Careca, Junior, Socrates of World Cup 1982 will forever stand out as legendary. Todays players seem to belong more on the cat walk than on a football field.
And football in general today only interest me when I put a few bets in and cash in....
calimary
(81,098 posts)Glad you're here! Not a big sports nut, myself. I enjoyed what I saw of the World Cup because it was actually quite pleasant to watch something whose results didn't matter to me one way or another. It was kinda nice to be neutral and just sit back and watch casually, and not care about the outcome. Heck, the crazy fans were as much fun to watch as any action on the field.
derby378
(30,252 posts)Next year, on the streets of Rio de Janeiro at the height of Carnaval, gaze out amongst the innumerable marchers, dancers, and floats. What do you see? High atop one specially modified trio elétrico, flanked by two samba dancers dressed in gaudy feathered leotards, Julio Cesar, the Brazilian goalie from the 2014 FIFA World Cup, has been tied to a plywood imitation goal. Cesar appears to have been drenched in honey and feathers. From all over the street, soccer balls appear out of nowhere, flung by people on the sidelines and even a few performers. The balls strike the poor goalie all over his torso, arms, and legs. A raucous cheer goes up when one futbol bounces off poor Cesar's head, and the samba dancers gyrate and trill their approval.
It's gonna get ugly at Carnaval 2015. REAL ugly.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)The back four hung him out to dry, repeatedly...
It's very difficult for goalkeepers when the back 4 are doing a rather accurate impression of headless chickens.
SylviaD
(721 posts)philosslayer
(3,076 posts)But... its really disappointing to see them run up the score like this. Humiliating the home team is just bad sportsmanship.
Throd
(7,208 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)There is playing well, and playing poorly. Brazil's lack of effort was reflected in the score.
mcar
(42,278 posts)This is not little kid soccer. I actually thought Germany was holding back in the second half - whether out of sympathy or to avoid injury.
Brazil brought this embarrassment on themselves.
BeyondGeography
(39,345 posts)by two goals to Brazil and Italy and by one to Spain. What were they supposed to do in response to Brazil's matador defense in the first half with a trip to the final staring them in the face? Special rules for the host?
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Brazil completely laid down with all the lackadaisical jogging and ball-watching so the Germans were essentially playing against air...Germany could have gotten to 10-15 goals easily if they wanted to press the issue...
The defending on that 4-0 goal was so negligent I almost began to wonder if the fix was in...This was a talented but flawed team sorely lacking in heart, mental toughness, and tactical adjustment...I know the pressures and expectations of an entire nation which expects nothing but victory can start to wear players down, but that Brazil side didn't have a plan, and once Germany went up 2-0 they essentially quit on the game and their nation and did *nothing* but wait for the clock to hit 90:00...
(Yes, I'm still wearing my Brazil jersey as I write this---A jersey which I ironically purchased while in Frankfurt...Coincidence??)
frylock
(34,825 posts)hughee99
(16,113 posts)to keep your team from getting embarrassed, you deserve this. It's not like Germany was playing the Buddy Cianci Jr. High B-squad, they were playing a top ranked team.
VWolf
(3,944 posts)it could have been 14-0.
cpwm17
(3,829 posts)Near the end a German player seemed to not try to hit an easy shot, kicking it wide. Moments later Brazil scored their only goal.
Skittles
(153,111 posts)Codeine
(25,586 posts)In fact it would be considered insulting for a team to stop playing their hardest; your job is to score goals, and you score as many as you can without opening yourself to dangerous counters. To do - or expect - otherwise is childish and silly.
Football is not, contrary to prevailing American opinion, a children's sport.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Has Glenn Greenwald even bothered to step up and give some kind of explanation for this national disgrace? Felipao has at least done HIS part in accepting the responsibility...
ProgressiveJarhead
(172 posts)joshcryer
(62,265 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)had the computer model watched Brazil play this WC (ugly win against Croatia aided by refs, tied Mexico, should have lost to Chile) it wouldn't have had them such heavy favorites.
joshcryer
(62,265 posts)But you're right, you can never guarantee anything. I was surprised he gave it to Brazil even though Brazil was out two good players.
T_i_B
(14,735 posts)Sadly for Brazil, the game was played on grass.
SunSeeker
(51,508 posts)Crowman1979
(3,844 posts)...Team USA only lost to Germany 1-0, the only goal of the game wasn't scored until the second half, and Germany had 63% possession.
But that's none of my business.
JVS
(61,935 posts)The US and Ghana seem to have gotten off easy.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)I wouldn't say they threw it, but then Germans have two winning qualities: they are team players, can't beat them on that; and, they are well organized strategists. They think long term. They think about consequences.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)but I was shocked at how they held back. I suspected at the time that it was a strategy..
7962
(11,841 posts)1-0 is too close to be "holding back".
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)were taking it easy. But I could be wrong.
mackerel
(4,412 posts)at the end game the rest of the team is going to have coping issues.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)It's their way of life. When you watch them play, it is as if each knows the mind of the other. That is why I respect Germans a great deal.
a la izquierda
(11,791 posts)Most people in the bar were laughing by the 4th goal.
IronLionZion
(45,380 posts)Fred M
(64 posts)And have been since the US got beaten. Some base personnel were rooting for Germany from the get-go (mostly people who've spent most of their careers here).
aggiesal
(8,907 posts)Bad ------------------------------ Really Bad ------------------------------ Brazil
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)But the article is too tough on the Brazil team that suffered a terrible loss when their leading player was seriously injured in an earlier game.
Still, the Germans proved once again what cooperation, working together smoothly and without a lot of stupid, egotistic friction can do.
NeoNerd
(19 posts)The Might Side has struck out...
7962
(11,841 posts)davidpdx
(22,000 posts)*crickets*