When Brazil Cried: FIFA World Cup 2014
By: Daniel Duque
FIFA 2014 World Cup logo and mascot.
Photo courtesy of Designbolts
Ever since 1930 until today, soccer national teams from all around the world do their best to qualify for what is considered the most competitive and prestigious tournament: The FIFA World Cup. Every four years, 32 teams that qualify from their confederation play against each other to win the tournament and bring happiness to their people.
Out of all nations that have competed in this tournament, there is one that has the most titles to date, Brazil. Brazil has won five world cups and have been present in all the editions so far, they are considered the most successful national team. During the 2014 edition of the World Cup, Brazil was selected to host the tournament which was a good opportunity to win the tournament after 12 years. However, that was not the case.
Group Stage
Being the host nation, Brazil was placed in group A along with Mexico, Cameroon and Croatia. The opening game of the tournament was Brazil against Croatia which ended up with a 3-1 result in favor of the Brazilians who showed a good performance during the match.
Brazilian players celebrating a goal against Croatia.
The second game for Brazil was against Mexico, who had beaten Cameroon 1-0 during the first matchday. The game was balanced with both teams attacking frequently. Despite Brazil's multiple goal opportunities, Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa was the man of the match and prevented the loss of his team. The final result was 0-0.
Brazil's last game during the group stage was against Cameroon, who had already been eliminated from the competition. The Brazilians had no trouble winning against Cameroon leading to a comfortable result of 4-1.
Brazilian players defending against a Cameroon player.
Brazil concluded the group stage in first place with 7 points qualifying to the round of 16 being Chile their next opponent.
Round of 16: Brazil vs Chile
Brazil and Chile played against each other during the round of 16. It was a balanced game with chances for both teams. Brazil went up 1-0 at the 18th minute with a goal from defender David Luiz but at the 32nd minute Chilean player Alexis Sanchez tied the game. The second half was filled with chances for both teams but they did not score finalizing the game with a 1-1 result, this meant additional time had to be played. The complementary time was for both teams, Chile could win the match but the post prevented the goal from Chilean player Mauricio Pinilla. The complementary time concluded with the result still being 1-1 meaning everything had to be settled through the penalty kicks.
Mauricio Pinilla's goal shot denied by the post.
The penalty kicks concluded with a 3-2 result in favor of Brazil which allowed them to move on to the quarter-finals eliminating Chile.
Quarter-finals: Brazil vs Colombia
For the quarter-finals Brazil had to play against Colombia who had eliminated Uruguay during the round of 16. The game began with Brazil attacking Colombia's area giving them multiple chances to score the first goal. It was the 5th minute that after a corner kick, Brazilian player Thiago Silva scored the first goal of the match giving Brazil the advantage. After Brazil's goal Colombia solidified their defense and attacked more. During the second half multiple controversial decisions from the referee affected Colombia negatively including a disallowed goal because of a doubtful off-side and a fault in favor of Brazil which was the source for their second goal from David Luiz.
During one action Colombian player Camilo Zuniga kicked Brazil's striker Neymar from the back which caused an injury that left the latter out of the competition. Colombia would score a penalty kick by James Rodriguez during the 80th minute, But Brazil managed to resist Colombia's attacking plays concluding the match with a 2-1 result and qualifying to the semi-finals.
Semi-finals: Brazil vs Germany
Brazil had a difficult challenge during the semi-finals as they had to play against Germany. For this match Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari had to adjust the line-up since key players, Neymar and Thiago Silva, had to miss the game due to an injury and yellow cards respectively. The game was played at a packed Mineirão stadium in Belo Horizonte with Brazilian fans that expected to see their nation making it to the final. The game started with options for both teams and Brazil controlling the ball during the first five minutes. However, it was at the tenth minute that after a corner-kick, Germany scored the first goal of the match through Thomas Muller. The stadium was left in silence but there was still hope for the comeback.
Brazil tried everything to go for the goal to tie things but Germany was showing a solid defense and a good attacking performance. At the 23rd minute after a throw-in, Germany scored the second goal through Miroslav Klose. The stadium was in complete silence with Brazilian fans at disbelief seeing how in just 2 minutes Germany scored two more goals through Toni Kroos and at the 29th minute Brazil was losing 0-5 after a goal from Sami Khedira. Their fans were leaving the stadium and some Brazilian fans started to show support for Germany. Brazil's team was a complete disaster; the strikers wasted their opportunities, the defense was giving a lot of space for Germans to break through and goalkeeper Julio Cesar could not do much to save his team.
Brazilian fans mourning their team's defeat.
For the second half Germany slowed their game down and allowed Brazil to attack more. However, the Brazilians were not able to score against Manuel Neuer, Germany's goalkeeper. Despite slowing down, Germany managed to score two more goals through Andre Schurrle which extended the score to 0-7.
Having already lost hope, Brazil decided to defend their area to prevent more goals. Two minutes before full time, German Player Mesut Ozil missed what could have been Germany's eighth goal. The referee gave 2 minutes of added time in which Brazil managed to score their only goal through Oscar; a goal that nobody celebrated.
Panoramic inside Mineirao stadium after the match finished.
Brazil had suffered the worst defeat in their entire history in their own stadium with their own people. Brazilians were devastated and many turned their back on them. Despite not making it to the final, Brazil had to play the match for the third place to get some consolation after their historical defeat.
Third place match: Brazil vs Netherlands
Brazil and Netherlands played the match for the bronze medal after being eliminated in the semi-finals. Despite Brazil's humiliating loss against Germany, the stadium was packed with Brazilians who still supported their team. However, all the support the Brazilian national team got was not enough to prevent the 0-3 loss against Netherlands, who showed an outstanding performance to take the bronze medal.
It was like that how Brazil said goodbye to the World Cup hosted in their own country, tournament which Germany ended up taking home.