Ugly loss to Germany gives Brazil a World Cup record that U.S. is glad to give up

SAO PAULO – Brazil’s stunning 7-1 defeat to Germany in Tuesday’s semifinal means the United States no longer holds an old, obscure, but definitely unwanted World Cup record.

Amid all the carnage in Belo Horizonte, all the tears and recriminations from a stunned host nation, was a bare statistical reality. Never before had a team lost a World Cup semifinal by such a resounding margin.

A six-goal deficit – it would have been seven if not for Oscar’s late consolation strike – is a mark that had never been matched and may never be bettered.

U.S. soccer fans who are new to the game might be surprised to learn that the American national team had ever made it to the World Cup’s final four. But it did, back in 1930, taking part in the very first semifinal of all.

On a rain-sodden pitch in Montevideo, Uruguay, a U.S. team featuring six players who were born overseas (sound familiar?), mainly from Great Britain, went down 6-1 to Argentina, having lost Ralph Tracy to a broken leg in the early stages and with no replacements allowed.

It was a mark that would be equaled just a day later when Uruguay thumped Yugoslavia by the same scoreline, but never bettered until Tuesday night at the Estadio Mineirao. Brazil beat Sweden 7-1 in the final group round in 1958 but that doesn’t officially count as a semifinal. West Germany matched the 1930 scorelines of Argentina and Uruguay when it beat Austria 6-1 in 1954. Brazil’s humiliation at home outstrips all of those.

For Brazil, Tuesday was the worst outcome imaginable, and there was no place to hide.

“This is a catastrophic, terrible loss,” Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said. “The worst loss.”

It was indeed. This corner of World Cup history now belongs exclusively to Brazil, and the United States no longer has a share in it.