Even Germans are stunned by their historic win over Brazil

The World
German soccer fans celebrate after watching a broadcast of the 2014 World Cup semi-final between Brazil and Germany at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, July 8, 2014.

Even if you didn't watch the World Cup semifinal between Brazil and Germany, you probably witnessed the horror of Brazilian fans as they watched their team — and their dreams of a World Cup title on home soil — simply crumble.

It became clear very early on that the match was going to be unusually brutal. Sebastian Christ, a Germany fan living in Berlin, says he was speechless watching Germany score goal after goal.

"After 10 minutes, or something like that, and the first goal was scored by Müller, that was the time when I was kind of happy," Christ remembers. "And then the second goal was scored by Klose and I was even happier. And after the third goal, I couldn't believe what I saw."

Germany scored five goals in the first 29 minutes, a World Cup record. It was an unheard-of embarrassment for Brazil, a country that lives and breathes soccer, particularly coming on their home turf.

After wiping away tears, some Brazilian fans are still trying to understand what happened. The final score was 7-1 and will go down as the worst defeat in Brazil's history. It was the first competitive home match the Brazilians had lost since 1975.   

As for Germany, Christ says they are still trying to put words to the event. "The biggest tabloid here in Germany ... on page one today, they printed this huge photo of Müller and they printed only two words — and these words were: 'Without Words,'" Christ says. "They had no headline."

The huge loss toppled records, including on social media — the game was the most tweeted-about sporting event of all time. Spectators couln't help but comment on the disaster they were watching. 

It's not hard to believe that Germans are sitting in an afterglow of victory, and for Christ, he is feeling more optimistic than ever. 

"I'm really confident that we will win the Cup this year," he says. "And, at the moment, I think Germany proved with the [semifinal] that they are the strongest team in the tournament."

Read our story on how Brazilians are reacting to their embarrassing defeat.

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