It was emotions versus composure, says Loew

Germany coach credits team for holding nerve in face of passionate Brazil.

BELO HORIZONTE: Germany coach Joachim Loew says his team’s clinical response to Brazilian emotion laid the foundation of their stunning 7-1 victory.

Brazil had gone into the match amid a mood of feverish national expectation and strident rallying cries to win for injured striker Neymar.

A hair-raising rendition of the Brazilian national anthem saw skipper David Luiz holding Neymar’s number 10 shirt aloft in a gesture of support.



But Germany met the raw emotion head on and when the opportunities arose, they struck.

“It was important to meet this passion and these emotions with calm, courage and with our own strength,” said Loew.

He added that Germany had exploited the chaos in the Brazilian defence mercilessly.

“They were shocked by our goals and it made the game easier for us. Everyone did their jobs incredibly well and with total concentration.

“We played well going forward and combined superbly.”

But Loew said the Germans must stay humble despite inflicting a record international defeat on the hosts.



“A bit of humility would also be very good and we need to be careful that we stay focused on Sunday,” said the 54-year-old.

The Germany boss also said he had sympathy for Brazil coach Felipe Scolari and the Selecao, having also tasted semi-final defeat as the hosts of the 2006 World Cup.

“I remember losing against Italy to a goal in the 119th minute so we know how Scolari, the players and the Brazilian people feel,” said Loew.

Focused Germans want title after Brazil rout

The Germans quickly switched their attention to Sunday’s final as they bid to end their country’s 24-year wait for a fourth World Cup title.

“We haven’t reached our goal yet, we will put our foot to the floor once again and put our heart and souls into it to win this thing.” said Thomas Mueller, who scored Germany’s 2,000th international goal to kick-off the rout.

“We can’t run away with ourselves, just as it was said that we were finished after the (last 16 win over) Algeria, now we’ll be praised to the heavens.

“That’s really the wrong approach — we’re really just a very good team.”



Germany will now travel to Rio for their eighth World Cup final having avenged their 2-0 defeat to Brazil in the 2002 final in emphatic style.

“We played an unbelievable game, but another game is yet to come,” said man-of-the-match Toni Kroos as Brazil suffered their worst international defeat.

“We have come here to be world champions and we’re not there yet.

“Whatever happens, there is a top opponent ahead of us and we both have a 50-50 chance.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2014.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.