Germany 7 (Seven), Brazil 1. Yes that's right, Germany 7 (Seven), Brazil 1!
Never has there been such a thrashing in the World Cup since... well the start of this World Cup when the Dutch beat the reigning World Champions 5-1 to spark this tournament into life.
But that shouldn't detract from the fact this was an astonishing result, because even if this blog suggested Brazil would struggle following the loss of Neymar this morning, it was a crash of epic proportions.
However, was this really a shock? Was this an example of magnificent German efficiency or had we overlooked a number of glaring factors that created the perfect storm? A number of significant events that resulted in a score line that will haunt many of that Brazil side for the rest of their lives.
As we've briefly touched on, the spine of Brazils side was missing tonight, with their centre half and captain suspended and key play maker and goal threat Neymar out with his back injury. These are players any side would find hard to replace.
In the case of Thiago Silva, this was a player who had complemented so well with the erratic all action style of David Luiz, so it left Brazil with a glaring dilemma at centre half in such a big game. The uncertainly created by the absence of their skipper no doubt contributed to the awful first goal they conceded in the 10th minute where Thomas Muller was allowed to place a side foot from the six yard box into the next from a corner. To say is was school boy defending would be offending school boys.
And it was from there that the problems escalated to silly proportions. The players confidence was already low following the loss of Neymar, but they now found themselves 1-0 down early on and with the un-inspirational figures of Fred, Hulk and a dog (Bernard?) in attack. Apart from Hulk, who didn't threaten to rip his shirt off once, Fred and Bernard are perfect English names to describe the excitment these players pose as attacking threats!
So the Brazil players are rocked, their game plan of staying tight undone and bays of expectant fans are piling the pressure for a response from an impotent attack. But of course all of this only served to play into the Germans hands even more, because now they could fall into their tried and tested plan of sitting back, inviting players onto them and then attacking those vacant spaces at pace.
With characters like Maicon, Luiz and Marcelo in the Brazil side, they were of course only to happy to play right into Germany's hands and it wasn't too long before Klose broke Ronaldo's World Cup goal scoring record to make it 2-0.
Brazil were already looking shell shocked and statuesque at this point, so it wasn't that much of a surprise that in a blink of an eye 2-0 became 3, then 4-0, and then 5... all within half an hour.
It really was a case of Brazil suffering a complete mind fuck. They had no leader on the pitch, no player with the sense to get hold of the ball and slow the game down - make sure they stayed in the game at 2-0, got to half time and try and re-group. They instead just panicked, held up a surrender flag or both.
So as good as the Germans were, after all you don't win by 6 goals through just luck alone, I do think they were given a massive helping hand by Brazil being so bad.
After all this was by no means a classic Brazil side. Looking through the team sheet, you have a Goalkeeper who couldn't get a game for QPR, a right back who's best days were behind him at the last World Cup, a midfielder come defender that looked like a 1970's soul singer / porn star and a striker who's only significant contribution all tournament was to fall over in the first game. Let's face it, they were crap and could have been found out much earlier on.
And so I would therefore wish to add a word of warning for those thinking the final will now be a forgone conclusion. Neither Argentina or Holland are broken teams, they still have momentum and belief firmly on their side. They also have significant weapons to threaten a German defence that has shown venerability, especially to pace which the Dutch specifically have in spades.
My personal opinion is that in the second semi final, Hollands defence will do more to keep out Argentina's star forwards that the other way around. In fact, if the Dutch get an early lead, a similar situation as to tonight could ensue as Argentina pile forward leaving Robben time and space to dance his merry dance.
And should that prophecy come true, I then fully believe Van Gaal will have the necessary tactical genius to outwit his German counterpart, in what could be a classic game of chess in the final (this should translate as a boring game to most of you!).
Therefore out of interest, I made a quick enquiry with my local online bookmaker this evening to find that I'm suggesting the current 4-1 outsider and only team without a star on their crest will be the one to end victorious. Maybe I have gone mad... or maybe, just maybe, it's a thought of genius. Either way, you read it hear first.
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