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The horror Brazilians will never forget
We saw the mauling, the horror-show, the humiliation, and the many-other-things-the-Minerazo-was-called, as the hosts and supposed favourites crumbled 1-7 to the Germans at Belo Horizonte in a World Cup Semi-Final. For me as a German fan it was doubly-delightful, and after having spent almost four weeks in the midst of Brazilians in the lead-up to the game, even fractionally, probably quarterly if not half (in terms of the scoreline), expected.
Fitting or unfitting, this national all-encompassing pervasive obsession with their Number 10, Neymar, seemed to be where it all began and ended. For even before the tournament started, the only replica jerseys on sale were those with 10 emblazoned behind, and no other number being available at all as an option. Very rarely would there even be a number-less jersey, apart from those over-priced-rarely-bought original Nike ones. Then it ended also with the knee of Zuniga in Neymar’s back. Watching with my Brazilian friends, and me being pre-conditioned to Neymar’s theatrics, with the hosts running the clock down nervously against the Colombians, it seemed just another stalling tactic.
Only thing missing were the numerous body-rolls which Neymar normally enacts upon falling, from which I failed to infer that there was possibly an actual injury. Early on when the medical reports of Neymar possibly missing the Semis started being translated by my friends, I scoffed at them saying Neymar would be fit in time to face the Germans. It was only after the never-ending medical interviews on all the sports & non-sports channels kept going through the night, early morning, day, afternoon, and the next night, did my cynicism give way to actual admission that the entire nation was now only going to harp on about Neymar and his injury.
It didn’t go according to plan
That was how it went in the lead up to their Semi-Final at home, whose trophy Thiago Silva was supposed to lift at the Maracana in Rio after Neymar was supposed to have scored the winning goal & won the golden boot under the stewardship of Felipao, who would equal Pozzo’s record. Why so ? For it was written so on their Team Bus! “Beware, the 6th is coming!”
The problem partly was Brazil either got too carried away in the Neymar hype, or let themselves be carried away with it. For all his match-winning goals in the Confederation Cup or even in this World Cup to date, Neymar is no Pele, and hasn’t actually achieved that much on the European, Continental, or Global football scene. So for an entire nation, that too with such a history, pedigree, & football DNA such as Brazil to raise the paranoia levels to this extent seemed absurd, almost delusional, and wholly uncalled for. Then the team wears ForcaNeymar caps pre-match and holds up his T-Shirt during the anthem. Was playing a strong team such as Germany in a World Cup Semi Final even on their minds ?
Alarm bells should have gone off for Brazil the way they got past Colombia. Having had to foul, hack, and play-act to impose their game to get the result. Then they lost Thiago Silva and Neymar. Fred was being trolled on by his very own compatriot Brazilians on their Whatsapp groups as my friend Edmar showed me, being compared to a tree, a chair, and many other useless things on a football field, but still continued to be fielded.
Julio Cesar was playing in the MLS of all leagues. Maicon had been shown up by Gareth Bale a few years ago, but had somehow still broken into this team. If they were not going to score with Fred, and with Neymar absent, the least they could’ve done was solidify the organisation. Felipao though, post-Colombia, was seen lamenting to Bueno, the famous 5 million dollar earning ex-Referee TV Presenter of Globo, how Thiago Silva’s foul was not a foul, and so shouldn’t have been a booking.
The Brazilians took the Germans lightly
Still maybe the Brazilians weren’t too worried about the Germans. The Brazilian public had been slightly more wary of the French, who had some spell on them. The French had beaten them 3-0 at France ’98, a Final where Brazil had their supposed best-ever-team and should have steam-rolled to victory. Then the French had beaten them again at Germany 2006. Having comfortably seen off the German in their only previous meeting in the 2002 Final, the Brazilian fans felt more at ease with the Semi-Final match-up that was coming up.
So even though I was sauntering through the cities in Germany attire, I was looked down upon more as a curious anomaly than a rivalrous threat. Well, so be it, I would say to myself. Whenever a local would care to add that the Brazilians would surely thump the Germans, I would simply retort that we would see, adding “may the better team win”.
Just after the Colombia quarter-final, I asked my friend Edmar to reply honestly, “Would you rather lose to Germany in the Semi-Final, or to Argentina in the final at the Maracana?” Unsurprisingly, he said he’d prefer a Semi-Final loss than a 2nd Maracanazo to another hated neighbour. However, he did conclude with “But neither of this will happen, as we will win the Final!”
At least the Brazilians avoided a Finals loss at the Maracana.
