The jokes on Twitter say it all. One has a photo of a 7UP can with a caption saying ?banned in Brazil?, a reference to the 7-1 thrashing that a clinical, ruthless German team inflicted on Brazil, hosts of the 2014 World Cup, in first semi final match. For a country with such a fabled history as a soccer giant, Brazil has not just lost a vital match, but also respect. To be 5-0 down inside of 29 minutes of a World Cup semi final in their own backyard is shocking, shameful, even incomprehensible. This is a team that had won the bid to host the World Cup with the bigger dream of winning the tournament and embroidering a sixth gold star on to the iconic yellow jersey. Yet, on the big day, they lost their discipline, and, with it, the game. It is the worst loss suffered by any World Cup host nation ever. The absence of superstar Neymar and captain Thiago Silva would have mattered little, so epic was the loss of form.
?We ask for forgiveness,? said coach Luiz Felipe Scolari after what he declared was ?the worst day of my professional life.? But there are dark days ahead for Brazil. It was embarrassing to watch a back four with Champions League pedigree playing like amateurs when it mattered the most. The villains were Julio Cesar, Maicon, captain David Luiz, Dante and Marcelo, seemingly invisible when the Germans were attacking and scoring virtually at will. There is a bigger loss here. Brazil spent an estimated $11.3 billion in the hope that the country would win the Cup. Now, they will play the loser of the Netherlands-Argentina match, but even a third place win will be no consolation prize to a country in shock and national shame.