Belo Horizonte, 8 July 2014. The semi-final of a World Cup being played in Brazil, and the hosts were supposed to win the whole thing for their people.
Twenty-nine minutes in, they were 5-0 down.
Germany scored five goals in 18 minutes. 0-1, 0-2, 0-3, 0-4, 0-5. The crowd at the Estádio Mineirão did not know where to look. By the end the score was 7-1. Supporters cried in the stands, and the Brazilian players could hardly bring themselves to watch the German celebrations.
Who was Brazil's captain that night?
David Luiz, standing in for the absent Thiago Silva. At full time he wept on the pitch, inconsolable, and the pictures of him went round the world.
Brazil's manager Luiz Felipe Scolari called it "the worst day of my life" at his post-match press conference. By the end, sections of the Brazilian crowd were applauding the Germans, which says a great deal about how complete the performance was.
How bad was the Mineirazo for Brazil?
- The score: 7-1, the heaviest competitive defeat in Brazil's football history on home soil
- The stage: a World Cup semi-final, in their own tournament
- The speed: five goals in 18 minutes, all inside the first 29
- The aftermath: a manager calling it the worst day of his life
It is often described as the worst humiliation in football history, and it is difficult to argue the point. A football superpower, at home, taken apart in a semi-final of their own World Cup. The collapse, the tears and the silent stadium are still raw in Brazil, and many feel the national team has never fully recovered.
Tomorrow: number 2.
