Image: EPA
7-1. An absolute embarrassment. There is no positive way to paint the absolute demolishing that Brazil received at the hands of the German national team. While the absence of Silva and Neymar might be a slight molehill to hide your Brazil fandom within until 2018, the 2014 World Cup will now be a tournament that will live in infamy for anyone remotely associated with Brazil’s team. However, this is a nation and a squad that still remembers a failure that is over 60 years old…the world should be placed on full alert, Brazil now has an even bigger motivator to return to world dominance.
When you look at the Brazilian timeline for their dominance, everything can be traced back to that disappointment in 1950. Since that, Brazil has won the World Cup five times and they created a worldwide force that was feared at every major tournament. That particular loss came in a much closer fashion, losing 2-1 to Uruguay. Without that loss in 1950, it is entirely within the realm of reason to think that Brazilian soccer would not have risen to the level that we have become accustomed to in our lifetime. Without that loss on home soil burning the soul of every Brazilian player and fan, the push to create Pele and other greats on the field might have never occurred. Pele may have been a fantastic player anyway, but it never hurts for a country to create an atmosphere conducive to creating footballing greats.
Now, Brazil has been given a motivator even larger than 1950. A loss in their backyard, and it was not even in the final. Not only that, but this was a destruction on a completely different level than “2-1″…this was a game that saw more Brazilian tears shed than will probably occur in the next century. It felt like more than a loss…it felt like someone had genuinely killed Brazilian soccer.
This means that the world should be put on notice as Brazil moves into the future. The wheels will be set in motion to create a national team that can erase the German result. A team that can exact its revenge somewhere down the road on a German team…a German team that will have completely forgotten this game after Sunday (either for good OR bad reasons). Brazil took the narrowest margin of missing out on the title in 1950 and turned it into a world power. What can be created from the motivation this time? I shudder at the absolute thought…
While such a loss might result in a period for Brazil where they might be a bit off the pace for the top spot in the world, the future for such a country with such a history. Despite some poor spots of play, this is a team that made it to the semi-finals of a World Cup. Improvement upon that…that means World Cup victories…on top of already having the most wins of any other country.
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