BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS...July 8, 2014, 10 years ago today:
In the biggest knockout round rout in the history of World Cup soccer, Germany embarrasses the host country, Brazil, 7-1 in the semifinals. The Germans scored a staggering four goals in a six-minute stretch en route to a 5-0 halftime lead. The seven goals were the most ever tallied in a World Cup semifinal. It was Brazil's worst defeat in 84 years and left the country despondent.
Both teams had come into the match undefeated in 2014 World Cup play. There was concern for the Brazilians, as star forward Neymar had suffered a broken vertebra in the quarterfinal win over Colombia, and captain Thiago Silva was suspended for exceeding the yellow card limit. But no matter, thought the team’s fans, as Brazil was riding a 62-match unbeaten streak in home competitive matches dating back to Copa America in 1975.
As most of the 58,141 fans at Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte, Brazil’s sixth-largest city, looked on in discomfort, Germany broke through in the 11th minute. Then came the barrage, with the Germans finding the net in the 23rd, 24th, 26th and 29th minutes. The horror of the moment had tearful Brazilian fans streaming for the exits at halftime. Germany’s lead increased to 7-0 before Brazil finally tallied in the 90th minute. “We wanted to make the people happy—unfortunately we couldn’t,” said Brazil defender David Luiz. “We apologize to all Brazilians.”
Five days later, Germany would go on to beat Argentina 1-0 in extra time in the final at Rio de Janeiro to win its first World Cup since 1990 and fourth overall. The deflated Brazilians fell 3-0 to the Netherlands in the third-place game. It took five years for Brazil to begin to recover, as the team took the 2019 Copa America title. But they’ve been eliminated in the quarterfinals of the past two World Cups and still haven’t won that event since 2002.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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