Pain runs deep as Brazil takes in grim reality

Steve Brenner 05:57 10/07/2014
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  • Tears and fears: Brazil’s players break down after the final whistle of a defeat that will haunt them.

    The aftermath of the abomination arrived and bewildered Brazilians were still struggling to take it all in.

    It was not so much the defeat – after all, Brazil have lost big World Cup games in the past – but it was the manner of the performance , the way Germany totally and utter­ly humiliated the hosts in their own backyard which stings so badly.

    Everyone in Belo Horizonte looking for answers and scape­goats. Luis Felipe Scolari is stand­ing, rightly, in the firing line, with everything from his squad selection to the tactics used being debated furiously on the TV, radio and in the streets.

    A contract which expires at the end of the tournament will surely not be renewed.

    “He chased the money from the start,” said angry fan Leo Santos. “You don’t go five minutes without seeing him on TV advertising some­thing. He got so much wrong it’s unbelievable.”

    The introduction of winger Bernard for the injured Neymar instead of the more defensive Ram­ires or Paulinho who would have at least countered the threat of the superb German midfield, while the continual use of Fred and Hulk have left this proud football nation scratching their heads like never before.

    The pain is everywhere – old women debating the awfulness of this supposed ‘team’ and the much maligned Fred, who was booed by home fans on Tuesday evening, summed it up perfectly.

    It’s the closest he’s come to hit­ting the target for a while.

    “It is a scar which will remain with us for the rest of our lives,” said Fred.

    “The booing did not hurt me but the result did.”

    The way German football has moved forward leaving Brazil in the dust has been hard for many to comprehend.

    Julio Cesar tried to make sense of it all but his words will appear hol­low to the shattered masses.

    “Germany have been playing together for eight years,” stressed the former Inter goalkeeper.

    “They were semi-finalists four years ago, they have a very good tactical scheme. We are a team of young players that will have an opportunity four years from now to remake history.

    “So before that a lot of things can improve and I think that even for the young players, what they have done they have played well for a team which was only formed one and a half years ago. So we need to focus on that rather than be critical.”

    Try telling that to a nation in mourning.

    We have failed our people,” admitted Dani Alves.

    “I don’t believe it is a stain on our careers. It won’t be stained by a single match, or by the elimination. Our fight, and where we reached, nothing can stain this.

    “Football isn’t just about one match. Competitions are made to compete, to try to go as far as you can.

    “We were eliminated today, but in this group, there are only cham­pions.”

    Right now in Brazil, where the debates about the extortionate spending on staging a World Cup which has angered many want­ing the money to be spent helping the millions living in poverty have begun to rage once more, Scolari’s crop of 2014 are only being called one thing – and it’s the very oppo­site of champions.

    The inquest will be long, brutal and bloody.

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