So, what compares to what happened yesterday in Belo
Horizonte (or Belo Horizonch, as they pronounce it)? Nothing really. Nothing
ever comes close to seeing the 5-times World Champions, who haven’t lost a
competitive game at home since 1975, lose 7-1 in a World Cup Semifinal, and not
only lose by that seemingly made up score, but trail 5-0 after just 30 minutes.
Nothing. That will be a memorable, infamous game for as long as the World Cup
is played. That will be repeated endlessly the next time these two Footballing
Titans meet. That will be the takeaway from this World Cup unless Messi scores
4 goals in the next two games. The story of the World Cup was written. In many
ways, that might be the biggest sports story of the year. This was Brazil’s
tournament. No team has probably faced as much pressure heading into a World
Cup than Brazil.
They needed to make up for their losses in the QFs to France
and Netherlands in ’06 and ’10. They hadn’t made a Semifinal since ’02. Brazil
had never gone three straight World Cups without reaching the last 4 (which is
absurd). They did make the last four, but they seemed a little overwhelmed the
whole time. Their first match wasn’t great, but they won 3-1. They actually
played better in their draw to Mexico, and then finished off the Group Stage
with the most criticized 4-1 win ever. It was unfair, really. This team went
2-0-1 in the Group Stage, scoring 7 goals and giving up 2. You know who else
did exactly that? Germany. Sure, they were nervous against Chile, but they
pulled through. Hell, World Cup winners all the time need to win close games.
Italy in ’06 got bailed out in the Round of 16 with a 2nd Half
Stoppage Time penalty to win 1-0 against Australia of all teams. Spain won all
four of their knockout games 1-0 in ’10. Teams don’t fly to World Cup titles.
Brazil even played a confident, quality game against Colombia, who had probably
been the most impressive team in the World Cup to that point. That was the real
Brazil. Then Tiago Silva went and did something idiotic, and then Neymar got
kicked in the back.
24 hours later, it is still hard to believe that happened. I
thought Germany would win. I had a half-written Semifinal Predictions post that
had Germany winning 3-1. That would have been fine. A solid loss to a team
that, given injuries and suspensions, is better than you. Brazil would have
been mad, but they wouldn’t have been embarrassed. That is what happens when
you lose like that. The last hour a long extended funeral. People counting down
the seconds till the referees final whistle. Germany didn’t hold off, adding
two more in the 2nd half. Oscar scoring the most hollow of goals to
give Brazil one moment to half celebrate. The tears bursting from every player
after the game ends. That was surreal.
It did get me thinking about what comes close to that? What comes
close to losing 7-1. Honestly, when you add in the fact Brazil was at home in a
situation they hadn’t lost in since Jimmy Carter was president, nothing really
does. Still, there are some similar games I can think of.
- Super Bowl XLVIII – You don’t have to go too far back to find a game that fit a lot of the same themes. The Broncos entered this years Super Bowl seemingly pretty even against Seattle. The Broncos too had players missing (though not players that played in the previous game), and the Broncos kept it close for a quarter. Remember, despite the safety, and the first interception it was just 8-0 after 15 minutes, much like this game was 1-0 through 20 minutes. Then came the first TD, the pick-six, the kick-off return for a TD, and before we blinked, in just 15 minutes of game time more, it was 29-0. Just like Oscar’s goal, Manning’s TD pass to Thomas was hollow.
- Super Bowl XXXVII – Another awful memory when the Raiders played a quasi-home game Super Bowl (in San Diego) against the Bucs, somehow went up 3-0 (kind of like Brazil carrying play and looking way faster through 6 or 8 minutes) and then the avalanche started. Tampa tied it, took a lead, added two TDs on offense, and then for good measure added two more on defense to jump out to a 34-3 lead. The Raiders, unlike Brazil, kept fighting and cut it to 34-21, but that just made the Bucs add two more TDs on defense and win 48-21.
- 2013 & 2014 Champions League Semifinals; Bayern beats Barca 7-0; Real Madrid beats Bayern 5-0.
o
These were the first soccer examples I could
think of. It was over two games, but Bayern Munich, who featured 5 of the stars
of Germany’s thrashing, beat Barcelona 7-0. They took the team many had
christened the Greatest of All Time, and thrashed them in a way that was worse
than Barca beat anyone in Champions League play. The 1st leg in
Munich was bad enough, but the real analogue was the 2nd leg in the
Camp Nou. Much like Brazil not having Neymar, Messi sat out the 2nd
leg injured, and Barca, already down 4-0, gave up 3 second half goals in quick
succession and never even came close to scoring. They gave up, much like Brazil
did.
o
This year’s example was actually even closer, in
a way. Madrid won the 1st leg of the Champions League semifinal 1-0.
They then went to Munich, that same team that did what I just wrote to their
biggest rival the year before, and whipped them 4-0. Just like in yesterday’s
game, Madrid scored early and killed off Bayern quickly. Before the game was 20
minutes old, Sergio Ramos had two headed goals, and Bayern needed to score 4.
Ronaldo added a goal before the half-hour struck and inside of 30 minutes it
was 3-0 and Bayern needed 5 and it was all over.
- 2014 FIFA World Cup – Netherlands beats Spain 5-1; Yeah, the tournament’s first ‘What the Hell?’ game fits in the reverse. That game it was the 2nd half when Netherlands did their damage. Through 44 minutes, it was 1-0 Spain. Over the next 35, it was 5-0 Holland. This game featured the same terrible defensive play by Spain that was so much a factor in Brazil’s demise (though for Spain it was more Pique and Ramos not being good enough than Brazil being totally out of position). It featured Casillas giving up a goal, the same silent reaction from the fans (of Spain, at least) and the same ‘Is this really happening?’ reaction from the media. Spain was shown to be a shell of itself, but that is still a talented team going down almost as hard.
- 2009 AFC Wild Card Game – Ravens defeat Patriots 33-14. This might be the most apt example. I have never seen a game like this… until last night. In this one, the Patriots entered as a team that hadn’t lost a home playoff game in the Brady/Belichick era (9-0). Tom Brady hadn’t lost a home game since the 2006 season. The Patriots did lose Wes Welker in Wk. 17, and while Neymar is more important to Brazil than Welker to New England, there was a sense of the Patriots barely being favorites. So, how did the game start… let me tell you, I know it from memory because it was too good:
o
Ray Rice scores an 82-yard TD on the first play
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Tom Brady gets strip-sacked by Suggs on their
first possession
o
Ravens score a TD to make it 14-0
o
Teams trade punts after Patriots go 3-and-out
again
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Tom Brady gets intercepted in one of the worst
passes I have ever seen
o
Ravens score a TD to make it 21-0
o
Tom Brady gets intercepted on a floating duck by
Ed Reed, returned to the 8-yard line
o
Ravens get held for a field goal to make it 24-0
How much time had gone off the clock? 10 minutes.
That was even more stunning than last night. The Patriots, the team that had
personified not making dumb mistakes and never not showing up in the playoffs,
were trailing by 24 and had turned it over 3 times, within a quarter. The rest
of that game played out eerily similar to yesterday, with a stunned into
silence crowd and a weird feeling of ‘the Patriots deserve to get theirs’ and ‘this
is no fun when the crowd is leaving at halftime and the 2nd half is
a pointless exercise’.
To me, that is what made yesterday so sad, in a way. The
last 60 minutes of the game was a pointless exercise. It was supposed to be a
good matchup. Had Tiago Silva not idiotically gotten himself suspended and had Neymar
not have been hurt that could have been a great game. Those are the two most
historically good countries in World Football. That should have been something
special. Instead, it was a disaster. In a way, that is a running theme of every
single one of my examples. Both those Champions League Semifinals looked like
awesome matchups on paper. Two great teams, in form, playing against each other
in the highest of stakes. One game in each park. They should have been epic,
instead they were awful. Both Super Bowls had the same thing, the two best
offenses against the two best defenses, storylines abound, and the games were awful,
the two worst Super Bowls in recent times. No one expected much from that Wild
Card game, but the other four were supposed to be epic battles.
We may still have some epics left in the World Cup. Tonight’s
Netherlands – Argentina match (my prediction: Holland wins 2-1) may be one that
goes down to the wire. The final, no matter who plays Germany, could shape up
to be one. A Brazil vs. Argentina 3rd-place game could be the most
interesting 3rd place game ever given how Brazil lost and the rivalry between
the two. Still, this was a dream World Cup through the QFs. We had a bonkers group
stage, such amazing parity, some great stories, new stars introduced the World
Over (James Rodriguez), and then four close, if not particularly exciting, QFs.
We had a great slate of Semifinals, but Germany ruthlessness, and more so
Brazil’s pathetic display, ruined that. I hope 7-1 isn’t the lasting memory of
the 2014 World Cup. I hope the only lasting takeaway from that game is that it
shows, along with Barca and Bayern getting hammered, and the Broncos, and
Patriots and even Spain just four weeks earlier, that for everyone on top,
their time is coming.
