Germany will meet Argentina or the Netherlands in Sunday's final in Rio de Janeiro after an unbelievable performance in which striker Miroslav Klose became the tournament's highest scorer of all time with his 16th World Cup goal. Fireworks boomed across the city, and fans in the German capital took up the refrain chanted by the German supporters in Estádio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte, Brazil: “What a day! So beautifully wonderful is today!” Their national team had stunned the world, including Germany itself, with a 7-1 trouncing of Brazil to reach its eighth World Cup final.
Before Tuesday, Brazil’s biggest World Cup loss was 3-0 to France in the 1998 final. This result matched their biggest ever margin of defeat in any competition, equalling a 6-0 loss to Uruguay in 1920 in the South American championship.
It was Brazil's record World Cup defeat and their first at home in 64 competitive matches since 1975. The last time Brazil hosted the World Cup, their campaign also ended in scarring trauma as they lost to Uruguay in the final, a defeat known as the "Maracanazo".
“We wanted to make the people happy,” Brazil defender David Luiz said. “Unfortunately we couldn't.”
Tearful Brazil captain David Luiz immediately apologised to the South American nation after a rout that was swiftly christened "The Shame of Shames" by the football-mad nation's media. “We apologise to all Brazilians.”
"Apologies to everybody, apologies to all the Brazilian people," sobbed Luiz.
Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari echoed the mood of despair. "We ask for forgiveness," Scolari said.
"To the people, please excuse us for this negative mistake."
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff added to the gloom.
"Like every Brazilian, I am very, very sad about this defeat. I am immensely sorry for all of us. Fans and our players," she wrote on Twitter, where many Brazilians vented their anger via the hashtag #vergonhabrasil (humiliation Brazil).
Germany star Thomas Mueller, who plundered his fifth goal of the tournament in the thrashing, admitted he was stunned by the scale of the victory.
"I don't know what to say to be honest," Mueller said.
For the fans, a section of the crowd chanted sexually-expletive obscenities against the team and Brazil's leader Rousseff, who up to now had enjoyed a reprieve from protests over the record $11 billion spent to host the tournament.
Across the nation, other fans shouted at their televisions and abandoned public screenings.
Alexa Rosatti, 19, a university student watching the game at a popular Sao Paulo bar district said she had feared Brazil would lose.
"But I never thought it would be a massacre," she said.
"I stopped watching for a second and they already had scored a sixth goal."
In Rio, at a street screening that had attracted 30,000 people, Karina Marques, a 17-year-old footballer, predicted a violent reaction from angry fans.
"It's a disaster. It will be chaos," she said. "People will break everything.
"They're going to be furious. The government spent a lot of money for this World Cup instead of investing in health and education."
It was Brazil's record World Cup defeat and their first at home in 64 competitive matches since 1975. The last time Brazil hosted the World Cup, their campaign also ended in scarring trauma as they lost to Uruguay in the final, a defeat known as the "Maracanazo".
“We wanted to make the people happy,” Brazil defender David Luiz said. “Unfortunately we couldn't.”
Tearful Brazil captain David Luiz immediately apologised to the South American nation after a rout that was swiftly christened "The Shame of Shames" by the football-mad nation's media. “We apologise to all Brazilians.”
"Apologies to everybody, apologies to all the Brazilian people," sobbed Luiz.
Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari echoed the mood of despair. "We ask for forgiveness," Scolari said.
"To the people, please excuse us for this negative mistake."
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff added to the gloom.
"Like every Brazilian, I am very, very sad about this defeat. I am immensely sorry for all of us. Fans and our players," she wrote on Twitter, where many Brazilians vented their anger via the hashtag #vergonhabrasil (humiliation Brazil).
Germany star Thomas Mueller, who plundered his fifth goal of the tournament in the thrashing, admitted he was stunned by the scale of the victory.
"I don't know what to say to be honest," Mueller said.
For the fans, a section of the crowd chanted sexually-expletive obscenities against the team and Brazil's leader Rousseff, who up to now had enjoyed a reprieve from protests over the record $11 billion spent to host the tournament.
Across the nation, other fans shouted at their televisions and abandoned public screenings.
Alexa Rosatti, 19, a university student watching the game at a popular Sao Paulo bar district said she had feared Brazil would lose.
"But I never thought it would be a massacre," she said.
"I stopped watching for a second and they already had scored a sixth goal."
In Rio, at a street screening that had attracted 30,000 people, Karina Marques, a 17-year-old footballer, predicted a violent reaction from angry fans.
"It's a disaster. It will be chaos," she said. "People will break everything.
"They're going to be furious. The government spent a lot of money for this World Cup instead of investing in health and education."
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