The World Cup chronicle, while richly recording pictures of winning grandeur, is also sated with equally compelling sketches of heartaches, shocks and surprises.
While derelict teams of little known players have often ambushed the lofty ambitions of pedigreed football nations, there have also been instances of unimaginable unmitigated dominations.
We make an effort to record the biggest Mundial jolts.
Germany 7 Brazil 1(semifinals, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2014): The Brazilian defeat to Germany though not a grand Cup upset will find the top mark as one of the most dramatic results in the tournament’s history for the sheer absurdity of the score-line.
Playing at home, Brazil, the record five-time winner, suffered its worst international rout, as its fans, still haunted by the 2-1 final loss to Uruguay in Maracana in 1950, were given a new nightmare to live by. The canary yellow faithful were shell-shocked as their beloved national team, missing its inspiration (Neymar) as well as its leader (Thiago Silva), conceded four goals in seven minutes to go down 5-0 by the half-hour mark, the worst start by a team in a World Cup.
The humiliation left the host embarrassed and rattled, threatening to throw it on a downward social spiral.
Holland 5 Spain 1(Group B game, Salvador, Brazil, 2014): The Mannschaft’s clinical annihilation, however, was not the sole rattling result from this 2014 edition.
The Spaniards, very much the final authority on tippy-tappy football, were forcefully nudged down from their lofty pedestal by a budding Dutch side, astutely managed by the tactician Louis van Gaal.
Greats like Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Xabi Alonso, Iker Casillas had almost taken winning for granted, with three international titles between 2008-12, but looked jaded and mediocre in the second group game loss, that dealt a deathblow to Spain’s Cup aspirations and also perhaps to its passive, diagonal passing style.
West Germany 3 Hungary 2(Final, Bern, Switzerland, 1954): In the “Miracle of Bern”, West Germany — afflicted with social and economic implications of the Nazi rule and World War II — stunned the ‘Magical Magyars’, who many considered as the best team ever.
The Germans, 0-2 down by the eighth minute, restored parity soon through Max Morlock and Helmut Rahn.
And after a heroic display from its goalkeeper Toni Turek, it secured an unlikely win with Rahn scoring the decider in the 84th minute.
USA 1 England 0(Group 2 league match, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 1950): The Americans, years after lending the English a helping hand during World War II, refused to extend the same generosity on the football field.
The USA playing XI, stacked with a mailman, a paint-stripper, a dish-washer and a hearse driver, defeated the English with forward Joe Gaetjens — a Haitian dishwasher in New York — scoring the winner goal in the 38th minute.
North Korea 1 Italy 0(Group 4 final league match, Middlesbrough, 1966): North Korea, an unknown soccer entity, created a furore by beating Italy (then twice World champion) 1-0 in its last group game, with army corporal Pak Do-Ik scoring the only goal.
The gritty fight of the “Little Orientals” won the affection of the locals, who wholeheartedly supported the men from the Communist nation.
Other noteworthy shocks:
France 3 Brazil 0(Final, Paris, 1998) .
Cameroon 1 Argentina 0(Group B league match, Milan, 1990).
Bulgaria 2 Germany 1(Quarterfinals, New Jersey, 1994).
Senegal 1 France 0(Group A league match, Seoul, 2002).
Uruguay 2 Brazil 1(Final round last group match, Rio de Janeiro, 1950)
