Brazil Suffered Greatest Home Defeat in World Cup History, Lost 7-1 to German Machines(Video)

• Germany 5-0 up in 29 mins
• Klose record World Cup scorer
• Brazil's biggest World Cup defeat
• First competitive home defeat in 39 years

Brazil's World Cup dreams ended in humiliating and brutal fashion as Germany inflicted their heaviest defeat in the first semi-final in Belo Horizonte.

A thunderous occasion that began with Brazil riding a tidal wave of emotion was reduced to a nightmare as Germany were 5-0 up inside 29 remarkable minutes in front of a disbelieving Estadio Mineirao crowd.

Brazil's players mourned the absence of the injured Neymar before kick-off, butcaptain Thiago Silva was an even bigger loss. The result was their first competitive home defeat in 39 years, and the end of their hopes of making it to the World Cup final at the iconic Maracana on Sunday.

Instead, Germany will meet either Argentina or the Netherlands, who play on Wednesday in Sao Paulo.

Thomas Muller gave the three-time winners an early lead before a period of utter chaos saw Miroslav Klose break the World Cup scoring record, Toni Kroos add two more in the space of 179 seconds and Sami Khedira net a fifth.

Chelsea striker Andre Schurrle, on as a substitute, added two more after the break before Brazil's followers delivered what must be regarded as the defining insult to their national team - cheering every German pass and applauding their goals.

Many Brazil supporters, swamped with such anticipation as they gathered in their thousands around the ground hours before kick-off, were reduced to tears after less than 30 minutes, and reduced to such a state of shock that it was only at half-time that they registered their first serious dissent.

Jump media player

Media player help

Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.

Defeat worst day of my life - Scolari

This equalled Brazil's heaviest margin of defeat, a 6-0 loss at the hands of Uruguay in the 1920 Copa America, but the impact of this reverse, not just on the world stage but in their homeland, will put this alongside the 1950 World Cup final defeat by the Uruguayans in Rio as their darkest football day.

Muller's early goal was a big enough setback, but the manner in which Luiz Felipe Scolari's side crumbled in the space of seven minutes is likely to be a matter of national debate in this country for years to come.

This was Brazil's first defeat at home for 12 years. The loss for a country built on sporting pride, and at their own World Cup, will be bad enough to take. The scale of defeat will take the inquests to a new level.

The statistics stacked up like pieces of rubble around the feet of Scolari and his players. This was the first time a team had scored seven in a World Cup semi-final, and the biggest defeat in one of these games - beating West Germany's 6-1 victory over Austria in 1954.

BBC Sport

World Cup 1998: How Zidane's Double Header Helped Crush Brazil(Video)

GOALS                 27'  1-0  Zinedine Zidane (assist - Emmanuel Petit)
                      +45'  2-0  Zinedine Zidane (assist - Youri Djorkaeff)
                      +90'  3-0  Emmanuel Petit (assist - Patrick Vieira)

To bill the 1998 final as a Ronaldo vs Zidane finale would be a tad bit unfair. Though Ronaldo and Zidane were both charismatic and important players to the team, Brazil and France were by no means a one-man army.

Led by Leornado and Rivaldo in the midfield, with Dunga sitting as the holding midfielder, the 1998 Brazil squad was a fine balance of talent, youth and experience. Cafu and Roberto Carlos provided the team with width on the wings with Ronaldo and Bebeto leading the attack upfront.

France on the other hand was orchestrated by Zidane, Petit and Deschamps in the midfield and played infront of an adoring stadium that egged them on for a historic victory.

Zidane looked like a man on a mission in the finals and was brilliant for France in the midfield. The French maestro showed his worth on the biggest stage as he rose to head in twice in the first half, giving the hosts a comfortable lead going into the second half.

Ronaldo on other hand looked subdued, much like his other team-mates and wasted the few opportunities he had in front of a brave and competent Barthez.

In the end France won 3-0 as Petit scored a late counter-attacking goal and Zinedine Zidane was awarded the Man of the Match.

Ronaldo though returned to Brazil with his team-mates and the national football team was soon embroiled in a controversy that stained the fabric of the Brazil football jersey in the years to come.

Following Brazil’s dramatic loss in the World Cup finale, the details surrounding Ronaldo’s sickness was made public. Such was the public reaction to the news that an official enquiry was made to find out what exactly happened to the Brazil national team before the finals.

What happened to Ronaldo before the game? Was he poisoned or drugged and was there a major conspiracy behind his ‘timely’ fit? And if Ronaldo was so sick, why was he allowed to play in the finals? Who allowed him to play? Was he forced by Nike or were the medics irresponsible enough to play with the striker’s life?

The Hard Tackle

The First World Cup Goal Scorer and other Quick Facts

Lucien Laurent of France scored the first goal in the World Cup as France beat Mexico, 4-1

 



 

 

Get other quick facts about the first World Cup: Uruguay 1930:

 

 

 

ü  Only 13 teams participated: 7 South American Teams(Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay); 4 European Teams(Belgium, France, Romania and Yugoslavia); 2 North American Teams (United States and Mexico)

ü  Date: July 13-30,1930

ü  Political history of the time: Centenary celebration of Uruguay First Constitution

ü  Match venue:  Montevideo (the capital)

ü  The stadia- 3(Estadio Centenario(90,000 capacity), Estadio Pocitos(1,000 capacity), and Campo Parque Central(20,000 capacity )

ü  First goal scorer: Lucien Laurent of France in 4-1 win over Mexico

ü  First clean sheet: Jimmy Douglas of United States in 3-0 win over Belgium

ü  Semi Finalists: Argentina, Uruguay, the United States and Yugoslavia

ü  Finalists: Uruguay vs Argentina: 4-2

ü  Finals attendance: 93,000

ü  Countries that bid for the world cup hosting: Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Hungary and Uruguay

ü  Then FIFA President: Jules Rimet

ü  Seeded Teams: Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, and the United States

ü  Number of matches played: 18

ü  Groupings- 4 groups: Group A(Argentina, Chile, France, Mexico); Group B(Yugoslavia, Brazil, Bolivia); Group C(Uruguay, Romania, Peru); Group D(United States, Paraguay, Belgium)

ü  First Semi Final: USA vs Argentina: 1-6

ü  Second Semi Final: Yugoslavia vs Uruguay: 1-6

ü  Total number of goals scored: 71

ü  Tournament highest goal scorer: Guillermo Stábile of Argentina(8 goals)

ü  Team with the highest goals scored: Argentina (18)

ü  Team with the highest goal conceded: Mexico (13)

ü  Teams that scored no goal: Belgium and Bolivia

ü  Teams with the least goals conceded: Brazil (2)

ü  The first Hat trick hero: Cea of Uruguay (against Yugoslavia in the Semi Final)

 

Brief on the Final Match- Uruguay 4: Argentina 2

The final was played at the Estadio Centenario on 30 July

The hosts scored the opening goal through Pablo Dorado, a low shot from a position on the right. ^]Argentina, displaying superior passing ability, responded strongly. Within eight minutes they were back on level terms; Carlos Peucelle received a Ferreira through-ball, beat his marker and equalised. Shortly before half-time leading tournament goalscorer Guillermo Stábile gave Argentina a 2–1 lead. Uruguay captain Nasazzi protested, maintaining that Stábile was offside, but to no avail. In the second half Uruguay gradually became ascendant. Shortly after Monti missed a chance to make the score 3–1, Uruguay attacked in numbers, and Pedro Cea scored an equaliser. Ten minutes later a goal by Santos Iriarte gave Uruguay the lead, and just before full-time Castro made it 4–2 to seal the win.^[

 

You've Got a Free Bet... Click Here

 

S/NO	TEAMS	NO OF GAMES PLAYED	NO OF GOALS SCORED	NO OF GOALS CONCEDED
1	Argentina	5	18	9
2	Chile	3	5	4
3	France	3	4	3
4	Mexico	3	5	13
5	Yugoslavia	3	7	7
6	Brazil	2	5	2
7	Bolivia	2	0	8
8	Uruguay	4	15	3
9	Romania	2	3	5
10	Peru	2	1	4
11	USA	3	7	6
12	Paraguay	2	1	3
13	Belgium	2	0	4
*		36/2=18	71	71



 

Football Great Comebacks: Portugal 5-3 North Korea

 

 

 

Portugal Came from 3-0 Down to Beat North Korea, 5-3

Competition: World Cup, England 1966

Date: July 23, 1966

Stadium: Goodison Park

Man of the Match: Eusebio (scored 4 goals)

How it happened

Against all the odds, unfancied North Korea stunned Eusebio's Portugal in the opening stages of their quater-final at Goodison Park in 1966. The Asian side held an unthinkable 3-0 lead with just 25 minutes on the clock; thanks to goals from Park , Lee and Yang in the 1st, 22nd and 25th minutes respectively.

Portuguese machine finally kick-started into life. Eusebio led the charge, pulling one back just two minutes later before adding another and then registering his hat-trick on 57 minutes.

He added a fourth just before the hour mark to put Portugal ahead for the first time in the match and the turnaround was complete inside just 32 minutes.

Jose Augusto added a fifth for gloss as the Portuguese breathed a huge sigh of relief while the Koreans were left to wonder what might have been.