The Brazil versus Germany football match (also known by its score as 7–1, or Mineiraço in Brazil) was the first of two semi-final matches of the 2014 FIFA World Cup that took place on 8 July 2014 at the Mineirão stadium in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Both Brazil and Germany reached the semi-finals with an undefeated record in the competition, with the Brazilians' quarter-final with Colombia causing them to lose forward Neymar to injury, and defender and captain Thiago Silva to accumulation of yellow cards. Despite the absence of these players, a close match was expected, given both teams had performed comparably well throughout the tournament. Both were regarded as the biggest traditional FIFA World Cup forces, sharing eight tournaments won (5 for Brazil and 3 for Germany) and having previously met in the 2002 FIFA World Cup final, where Brazil won 2–0 with Ronaldo Nazario scoring a brace and earning their fifth title.

This match, however, ended in a historic loss for Brazil; in a massive show of dominance, Germany led 5–0 within 29 minutes, with four goals being scored inside a six-minute span, and brought the score up to 7–0 in the second half. Brazil scored a consolation goal through Oscar in the last minute, ending the match 7–1. Germany's Toni Kroos was selected as the man of the match.

The game marked several tournament records. Germany's win marked the largest margin of victory in a FIFA World Cup semi-final. The game saw Germany overtake Brazil as the highest-scoring team in World Cup tournament history and become the first team to reach eight World Cup finals. Miroslav Klose scored his 16th career World Cup goal and surpassed Brazil's own Ronaldo as the tournament's all-time record goalscorer. Brazil's loss broke their 62-match unbeaten streak at home in competitive matches, going back to the 1975 Copa América (where they lost 3–1 to Peru in the same stadium), and equalled their biggest margin of defeat in a match alongside a 6–0 loss to Uruguay in 1920. It was also Brazil's worst margin of defeat in a World Cup match, with their previous worst loss in that category being their 3–0 loss to France in the 1998 final at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Paris.

Ultimately, the match was described as a national humiliation. The game has been dubbed the Mineiraço () in reference to the Mineirão stadium, evoking a previous "spirit of national shame" known as the Maracanaço in which Brazil unexpectedly lost in the de facto final of the 1950 FIFA World Cup on home soil to Uruguay. Brazil lost 3–0 to the Netherlands in the match for third place, while Germany went on to win the World Cup, winning 1–0 against Argentina in the final. This was Germany's fourth World Cup triumph, bringing them joint-second behind five-time winners Brazil, as well as the first European World Cup triumph in the Americas.

Background

Brazil were hosting the FIFA World Cup for the second time (the first being 1950), and had won the tournament on five previous occasions. Germany were three-time winners but had not won the tournament in 24 years. Brazil were in the semi-finals for the first time since 2002, from which they emerged victorious and subsequently won the tournament against Germany; while Germany were in a record-breaking fourth consecutive semi-final. Both teams had entered the tournament among the favourites to win, with Germany ranked 2nd and Brazil ranked 3rd in the FIFA World Rankings. It was only the second World Cup match between the two sides.

Brazil's route to the semi-final included a group stage with Croatia, Mexico and Cameroon in Group A, from which they advanced with seven points before beating Chile in the Round of 16 in a penalty shoot-out, and Colombia in the quarter-finals. Germany had been drawn with Portugal, Ghana and the United States in Group G, and advanced with seven points before beating Algeria in the Round of 16 (after extra time) and France in the quarter-finals. The two teams had met in 21 previous matches, but their only previous encounter in the single-elimination round of the World Cup was the final of the 2002 FIFA World Cup that was a 2–0 victory for Brazil, which was Luiz Felipe Scolari's first tenure as manager of Brazil while Miroslav Klose was in Germany's starting lineup (being the only two remaining from that match).

Brazil defender and captain Thiago Silva was suspended for the match due to accumulation of yellow cards, despite an appeal against the suspension by the Brazilian Football Confederation. Forward Neymar was also unavailable for the match, having been sidelined for the rest of the tournament after suffering a fractured vertebra in the quarter-final match against Colombia. Dante and Bernard, making their first starts of the tournament, replaced Thiago Silva and Neymar respectively with Luiz Gustavo replacing Paulinho in defensive midfield. Germany were unchanged from their quarter-final. Goalkeeper Júlio César and stand-in captain David Luiz paid tribute to Neymar by holding his shirt during the national anthem ceremony. Even with the absences, analysts expected a close match, feeling the home crowd could provide an advantage for the hosts.

Match Both teams had reached the semi-finals undefeated in their previous matches of the tournament. The officiating team was led by Mexican referee Marco Antonio Rodríguez, in what would be the final match of his career.

Summary

First half

Both teams started with attacking play, with Brazilian Marcelo's shot going wide in the third minute and German Sami Khedira's shot in the seventh minute being inadvertently blocked by his teammate Toni Kroos. In the 11th minute, the Germans scored from their first corner of the game. Thomas Müller escaped his marker, David Luiz, in the penalty box, and Toni Kroos's delivery found him wide open for a side-footed shot into the net. In the following minutes, Brazil tried to respond, but their attacks came to nothing, although Philipp Lahm delivered a tackle to keep Marcelo from setting up a chance in the penalty box. Instead, in the 23rd minute, Germany scored again after Kroos and Müller combined to set up Miroslav Klose, who scored on the rebound after his initial shot was saved by goalkeeper Júlio César. This goal was Klose's 16th and final ever World Cup finals goal, passing the record he previously shared with Ronaldo, a Brazilian.

Klose's goal initiated a flurry of German scoring as Brazil lost control of the game. In the 24th minute, Kroos scored with a left-footed strike from the edge of the area after Lahm's cross was deflected. Then, in the 26th minute, just a few seconds after Brazil kicked off, Kroos caught Fernandinho in possession in his own half and played a one-two with Khedira before scoring again. Kroos's goals came just 69 seconds apart. Khedira himself scored in the 29th minute after exchanging passes with Mesut Özil. All five of Germany's first-half goals came within the first half-hour, with four of them coming in one six-minute period. In contrast, Brazil had no shots on target in the first half. Many Brazil supporters in the crowd were visibly in shock or reduced to tears, and many would leave the stadium before the second half. The resulting fights in the Mineirão stands forced the Military Police to send a special forces squad into the stadium.

Second half

Brazil's substitution of Paulinho for Fernandinho and Ramires for Hulk resulted in an improvement in their play after the restart; Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer saved shots in quick succession from Oscar, Paulinho and Fred. By the 60th minute, though, the Germans came close to scoring again, with Júlio César denying Müller twice. Another German goal nonetheless came in the 69th minute – Lahm's low cross found substitute André Schürrle, who side-footed the ball into the net from close range. Ten minutes later, Schürrle ran onto Müller's cross from the left and hit a powerful shot over César at the near post. At this point, with the score at 7–0, the remaining home fans gave the Germans a standing ovation, applauding both Schürrle's goal and Germany's overall performance. Close to the end, Özil received a through ball with just César to beat but missed his shot to make it an eighth goal. Seconds later, Oscar received a long ball and scored in the 90th minute to make it 7–1. The final score matched Brazil's worst loss (6–0 to Uruguay in 1920) and ended a run of 62 competitive home matches unbeaten for Brazil. The Brazilian players left the pitch in tears to a chorus of boos and jeers.

Toni Kroos was selected Man of the Match, with three shots, two goals, 93% pass accuracy, one assist and two chances created.

Brazilian striker Fred, who was replaced by Willian in the 70th minute, received a particularly hostile reaction from the home fans. According to Opta Sports, Fred failed to make a single tackle, cross, run or interception during the match, and actually spent the majority of his time in possession of the ball on the centre spot due to six restarts.

Details

GK 12Júlio CésarRB 23MaiconCB 4 David Luiz (c)CB 13Dante LB 6 MarceloCM 17Luiz GustavoCM 5 Fernandinho RW 7Hulk AM 11OscarLW 20BernardCF 9 Fred Substitutes:GK 1 JeffersonDF 2 Dani AlvesMF 8 Paulinho DF 14MaxwellDF 15HenriqueMF 16Ramires MF 18HernanesMF 19Willian FW 21JôGK 22VictorManager:Luiz Felipe Scolari GK 1 Manuel NeuerRB 16Philipp Lahm (c)CB 20Jérôme BoatengCB 5 Mats Hummels LB 4 Benedikt HöwedesCM 6 Sami Khedira CM 7 Bastian SchweinsteigerRW 13Thomas MüllerAM 18Toni KroosLW 8 Mesut ÖzilCF 11Miroslav Klose Substitutes:GK 12Ron-Robert ZielerDF 2 Kevin GroßkreutzDF 3 Matthias GinterFW 9 André Schürrle FW 10Lukas PodolskiMF 14Julian Draxler DF 15Erik DurmDF 17Per Mertesacker MF 19Mario GötzeGK 22Roman WeidenfellerMF 23Christoph KramerManager:Joachim Löw Man of the Match: Toni Kroos (Germany)

Assistant referees: Marvin Torrentera (Mexico) Marcos Quintero (Mexico) Fourth official: Mark Geiger (United States) Fifth official: Mark Hurd (United States) |}Match rules: 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary Penalty shoot-out if scores still level Twelve named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions

Statistics

Statistic"World Cup Matches Round". FIFA. Retrieved 14 July 2014. Brazil Germany Goals scored 1 7 Total shots 18 14 Shots on target 8 10 Ball possession 52% 48% Corner kicks 7 5 Fouls committed 11 14 Offsides 3 0 Yellow cards 1 0 Red cards 0 0

Records The game's result was the biggest winning margin in a World Cup semi-final or final. The outcome was also the worst loss by a host country in World Cup history, as the six-goal difference doubled the previous record margin. By the end of the game, a total of 167 goals had been scored at the 2014 World Cup, the 2nd-most at a single World Cup, after 1998 with 171 goals. With 18 total shots on target, the match had the joint-most shots on target of any match in 90 minutes at the 2014 World Cup. The match also had the fastest four goals scored in World Cup history, with Germany scoring in the span of six minutes (from 23′ to 29′); in 1954, Austria took seven minutes (25′ to 32′) and in 1982, Hungary also took seven minutes (69′ to 76′) to score four goals. Germany equalled the record for most goals scored against the host nation of the World Cup, with Austria defeating Switzerland 7–5 in the 1954 World Cup. Germany also overtook Brazil to become the all-time highest-scoring team in FIFA World Cup history, their total of 223 at full-time passing Brazil's 221. Before the match Brazil and Germany were even with seven World Cup finals each; the German victory made them the only squad to reach 8 finals.