Never before had a European country lifted
the World Cup outside their own continent, but with the expectation of a nation
weighing heavily on the shoulders of Brazil,
the hosts failed to deliver in their own backyard and were demolished 7-1 by
the Germans in a semi-final that will go down as Brazil’s most embarrassing result
of all time.
The failure of reigning champions Spain to
get out of group B was no surprise to anyone following the Ziaian football rankings as Chile and the Netherlands were clearly above the Spaniards at the
start of the tournament, but the magnitude of their defeat to the Dutch
signified a clear shift in power with the Dutch topping the group after a 2-0
victory over Chile and Spain going home with a 3-0 consolation win against
Australia. A less than convincing Brazil
won group A but Croatia who
had put 4 past a hapless Cameroon
side showed very little ambition in their final match and were swept aside 3-1
by Mexico.
In group C Ivory Coast upset Japan
2-1 but were edged out 2-1 by Greece
who had been easily beaten 3-0 by Colombia in their first match.
Group D turned out to be the upside-down group with Costa Rica finishing top
after shocking Uruguay 3-1, stunning Italy 1-0 and holding bottom team England
to a goalless draw after the English had lost 2-1 to Italy and Uruguay. The
Costa Ricans reached the last 8 where they went out to the Netherlands on
penalties while a biteless Uruguayan team lost 2-0 in the round of 16 to the
exciting Colombians who were beaten 2-1 by the hosts in the next round. Switzerland overcame Ecuador
2-1 and were brushed aside 5-2 by France
before easing 3-0 past Honduras
to progress from group E behind the French who could only manage a goalless
draw against Ecuador
in their last group match. A single German goal ended French hopes in the
quarter-final stage. Bosnia
& Herzegovina got the
better of Iran 3-1 but were
eliminated from group F having already lost 1-0 to Nigeria
who went through behind Argentina.
Germany started group G with
an emphatic 4-0 win over Portugal
but shared 4 goals with Ghana
in their next match while in group H South Korea earned a point with a 1-1 draw
against Russia but were
defeated 4-2 by a gutsy Algerian side who were beaten 2-1 after taking Germany
to extra time in the next round.
After their humiliating 7-1 semi-final crushing,
Brazil attempted in vain to
salvage some pride, but were outclassed 3-0 by the Dutch who finished third
while Germany won the final
with a single goal in extra time against an inept Argentina.
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