Humiliation

07/10/2014 - 09h01

It was bound to be a fraught semi-final of the Word Cup.

Brazil was without its star player Neymar after Colombia's Juan Camilo Zuniga crashed his knee into Neymar and fractured Neymar's third vertebrae in his lower back, as well as captain Thiago Silva, suspended because of his second yellow card during the game against Columbia.

But no one could have predicted the outcome at the Mineirao stadium in Belo Horizonte. It was to be the worst of outcomes for Brazil and the best of outcomes for Germany.

The German 7-1 victory was a triumph. The score was 5-1 within the first 29 minutes. For Brazil the 7-1 defeat was a national humiliation.

Worst still: It was the most devastating defeat Brazil has ever suffered before a home crowd, and during a critical semi-final in what is widely seen to be one of the most exciting World Cup's ever. It was difficult one fan said "to explain the inexplicable."

In the meanwhile, not surprisingly, FIFA's problems rumble on. The Cameroon Football Association is investigating German press allegations that seven Cameroonian players fixed matches during this year's World Cup group stage matches.

Raymond Whelan, the English head of the Swiss based partner company MATCH Hospitality, the only company officially authorized by FIFA to supply VIP hospitality packages to every World Cup game, was arrested with 11 others by the Brazilian police at the Copacabana Palace Hotel, where FIFA officials are more than comfortably ensconced, as part of "Operation Jules Rimet" into allegations of participating in a ticket scalping scandal.

This is not of course a new problem for FIFA. In 2006 Jack Warner, former president of Central America and Caribbean Football, apparently made vast sums selling tickets to the World Cup on the black market.

Phillppe Blatter, the nephew of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who is head of the "Sports and Media Company" holds shares in MATCH Hospitality.

Humberto Gondona, the son of FIFA vice president Jules Gondona, is also alleged to have sold World Cup Tickets. Overall these illegal sales at the World Cup are estimated to be worth US$100 million.

There will be political consequences. The overpass collapse in Belo Horizonte several days ago was symptomatic of many of Brazil's continuing and underlying problems which are bound to return when the World Cup is over: Shoddy workmanship and chronic delays in public projects, and the vast expenditures on stadiums.

The last time Brazil lost a foortball game so catastrophically was against Uruguay in 1950. That time the national team dropped their white shirts and chose yellow. It may be less easy than shedding a shirt colour this time around.