Brazilians cried, cursed their president and covered their faces in shame after their beloved football team’s humiliating 7-1 thrashing by Germany in the World Cup semifinals.
Hundreds of people left their expensive seats at the stadium after the fifth goal and well before half time.
A section of the crowd chanted obscenities against the players and President Dilma Rousseff, who during the cup had mostly enjoyed a reprieve from protests over the record $11 billion spent to host the tournament.
The tears began well before the final whistle, with the third German goal in the first half causing children and adults to start bawling in the stadium and in public screenings across the continent-sized nation.
As people streamed out, police reinforced security inside and around the stadium, but no incidents were reported.
Others around the country shouted at their televisions and abandoned public screenings as the Selecao suffered the biggest defeat of its 100-year history.
“Neymar must be vomiting at home watching this disaster. The horror,” said Marina Genova, 54, viewing the match at a popular bar district in Sao Paulo, referring to Brazil’s injured star.
Amid the deluge of goals, a downpour only added to the already gloomy mood of thousands of fans in Brazil’s canary-yellow jersey at the official “Fan Fest” on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach. Two dozen fans scuffled, forcing police to intervene.
In Sao Paulo, several buses were torched in a parking lot but police could not confirm whether the attack was linked to the defeat.
Brazilians were already concerned about the team’s chances after Neymar broke a vertebra during the quarterfinals victory over Colombia. But they never thought it would be this bad.
“This is a terrible match and Brazil without Neymar is terrible. I hate this match. It’s embarrassing to lose like this,” said Beth Araujo, 24, a biology student.
“The only good thing is I think it will affect President Dilma in the election. But all our politicians are even worse than the team,” she added.
Alexa Rosatti, 19, a university student said she had feared Brazil would lose.
“But I never thought it would be a massacre,” she said. “I stopped watching for a second and they already had scored a sixth.” Boos rang out around the ground as goals number four, five, six and seven went past Brazil goalkeeper Julio Ceasar.
When German substitute Andre Schurrle got his second goal and his team’s seventh, boos turned to cheers for the team which hadsmashed home hopes.
