SAO PAULO: A day later, the grief of yesterday was still evident.

Brazil’s 7-1 humiliation at the hands of Germany in their World Cup semi-final on Saturday sent the nation into shock and suddenly the country has been stunned into silence.

“It was a shock to the system,” Hector, a taxi driver in Brazil’s financial capital of Sao Paulo, told Dawn on Wednesday. “People still cannot deal with what happened yesterday. It was absolutely woeful.”

The Word Cup fever had gripped the Brazilians after wide-ranging protests against the hosting of the tournament and the Selecao’s run to the semis was greeted by great joy across the continent-sized country.

But absolutely no one could have predicted that they would bow out so meekly in front of their own fans۔

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“Apologies to everybody, apologies to all the Brazilian people,” said a tearful David Luiz, who was the captain on Tuesday in place of the suspended Thiago Silva.

“I just wanted to see my people smile. We all know how important it was for me to see all of Brazil be happy, at least because of football.

“Germany were better than us. They prepared better. They played better. It’s a very sad day but it’s also a day from which to learn.”

Brazil had burst in tears in the tournament before as well. They, however, were of a joyous variety which led to appointments with the team psychologist and criticism that they players weren’t man enough.

That, probably, showed how fragile this Brazil team was. After Germany scored the opener, Brazil collapsed.

“The players who were routed will carry a burden that will not be forgotten in this century and maybe not the next,” wrote O Diario in its editorial on Wednesday.

“It was the worst and most humiliating defeat in the history of Brazilian football. The millionaires in yellow must have forgotten the meaning of the five stars of our shield.”

Brazil’s five World Cup triumphs are a symbol of national pride for the country that loves its football. On Tuesday, pride was what was lost.

The Wednesday edition of the Folho de Sao Paulo newspaper warned that the result could have political consequences for Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s under-fire president.

So far there has been little unrest during the World Cup despite anger over the huge amounts of money spent on staging the event while so many people live in poverty.

The nature of the defeat could, however, spark unrest.

Sao Paulo is a city known for its political intellect. Unlike Brazil’s party city of Rio de Janeiro, which will host the final on Sunday, Sao Paulo is more calm and collected.

This is where the nations political ideologies are discussed. This is where the protests began in the first place.

On Wednesday, the city had a muted silence. Perhaps it is the calm before the storm.

Maybe the protests would erupt if Argentina were to win the World Cup or humiliate Brazil in the third-place playoff in Brasilia on Saturday.

Lionel Messi’s Argentina were due to play the Netherlands in the second semi-final at Sao Paulo’s Arena Corinthians later on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Brazil fans had a mocked up figure of Messi, dressed like a woman, which they carried around as they danced to the samba beat before the game began.

Argentina certainly would’ve enjoyed seeing their arch-rivals taken apart by Brazil and their sports paper Ole certainly left no stone unturned in rubbing salt into the Brazilian wounds.

“All of Brazil is crying, beaten by a brilliant Germany in an unforgettable dance that was 7-1 and could have been bigger,” it wrote on Wednesday.

“They dreamed of being champions at home but are left with only the wish. It was a game that will stay in football’s history. Worse than the ‘Maracanazo’? One, two… seven. A nuclear bomb, in a footballing sense. ‘Mineirazo’. Brazil surrendering at the feet of Germany: cries, tears, pain.”

The ‘Maracanazo’ refers to Brazil’s 2-1 loss to Uruguay in the final of the 1950 World Cup — the last time the tournament was hosted by the country.

Tuesday’s thrashing at Belo Horizonte’s Estadio Mineirao is being dubbed as the ‘Mineirazo’.

For Brazil, though, another ‘Maracanazo’ could be in the offing if Messi were to lead Argentina to World Cup glory on Sunday.

Published in Dawn, July 10th , 2014