FIFA World Cup 2014: 7 reasons why Brazil conceded 7 goals from Germany

So much has been told about this extraordinary match between Brazil and Germany, that it is hard to say anything new. The match ended with a German devastating victory of 7-1. To be honest, it has been coming. Here are the reasons why:

The Official 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ Fact File

Reason 1, named after Thomas Mueller: Brazil had been a mediocre team up until the semi-finals. Its

first match ended with a 3-1 win over Croatia, achieved thanks to a controversial penalty when the score was 1-1. The team had huge problems against Mexico and never managed to score. Arguably the weakest team of the tournament, Cameroon, created some trouble for the hosts, too. Then Chile was very close to eliminate Brazil, but Pinilla’s shot seconds before the end of the extra time was saved by the woodwork, and Brazilians missed two after-match penalties. Chileans were even worse, though. The quarterfinal match against Colombia was also full of controversy, as the referee responded by only two yellow cards to the 31 committed fouls by Brazilians. All of this makes one assume, that Brazilians had been marginal winners in their matches up until the semi-final. This small margin can be written on the account of great Brazilian fans and poor refereeing. Germany scored so many goals, that even 200 million Brazilians in the stadium and a committed referee could do nothing.     

Reason 2, named after Miroslav Klose:

David Luiz, Maicon and Marcelo are defenders. Their primary task is to defend against the opponent’s attacks. It is fine to join the teammates when attacking, if there is a confidence that there is no need to defend

with so many players, there are others to cover the positions or a last-minute goal is required. In fact, already before the first goal it was clear that these three were to bring a trouble for Brazil. The wingbacks had already lost their positions a couple of times and unnecessarily joined the attackers by the time Sami Khedira’s shot was blocked by Toni Kroos’s back. In the episode where Germans earned a corner after 10 minutes of play, there were two German players running in the right wing, where Marcelo had to be facing them, but was not doing so for some reasons. It was mainly Marcelo’s mistakes that brought the majority of goals, but why did defenders run forward rather than not doing that? This picture was witnessed over and over again and Scolari was unable to do anything with it.

Reason 3, named after Toni Kroos: Neymar’s and Thiago Silva’s absence played its role. Neymar was the only one to jeopardize the opponents with his unpredictable moves. Fred and Hulk are not better than Greece’s or Costa Rica’s forwards, with all respect to those. Thiago Silva is the captain and the most balanced defender of the squad. He would never let David Luiz and Marcelo lose their heads and get lost in the opponent’s half, had he been among the eleven in yellow shirts that evening.

Reason 4, named after Toni Kroos: The psychological situation had been extremely vulnerable within the

team. The team had been crying after singing the national anthem, after scoring, after winning or after picking up an injury. There have been psychologists actively involved in the team. Getting along with the loss of Neymar and Thiago Silva was impossible for a team in such circumstances. They never forgot about these two when preparing for the semi-final. Brazil started to think of eccentric methods like appealing against Thiago Silva’s yellow card, the rejection of which made the morale condition even worse. Bearing caps and t-shirts with Neymar’s name when the guy is still alive sounds way too much to me.

Reason 5, named after Sami Khedira: The incredible pressure from the tribunes, streets and screens, confirming that anything but the gold will be a failure, played its role. Any team is expected to succeed at home. Italy and Germany were also expected to win the World Cup respectively 24 and 8 years ago, but Brazil was required to do so. These are unique circumstances in football, previously not experienced by any team in the world.

Reason 6, named after Andre Schuerrle: This might sound as an unorthodox opinion, but the horror of repeating Maracanazo, the disaster of 1950, where Brazil was beaten by Uruguay in the final of the first World Cup on the home soil, surely lived deep inside every player included in the 23-man squad. Pele, whose words are sacred for Brazilians, said that he didn’t want to cry as his father did that day 64 years ago.

Reason 7, named after Andre Schuerrle: Finally! Germany is strong! Very strong! Neuer, Lahm,

Mertesacker, Schweinsteiger, Khedira, Oezil, Mueller and Klose have played under Joachim Loew’s commando for a long period and have been close to win titles in every tournament they have been involved. The starting eleven of the Germans that evening represented Bayern (6 players, winners of the Champions League 2012-13), Borussia Dortmund (1 player, finalist of the Champions League 2012-13), Real Madrid (1 player, winner of the Champions League 2013-14). No one had ever scored more goals in the World Cup than Miroslav Klose. Add Hoewedes and Oezil, two players with some great experience in European top leagues. Brazil’s starting line-up included Fred from Cruzeiro, Bernard from Shakhtar Donetsk, Hulk from Zenit St. Petersburg, and Toronto’s Julio Cesar with only 7 appearances for his club this season. It is useless to compare the experience and cooperation rate of the two teams.   
2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ Official Book