( CNN ) -- It was a beating , a thrashing , a rout , a waxing , a debacle . Sport is well-equipped with words to describe what took place in the semifinal match between Germany and Brazil on Tuesday , but none of them , at least not yet , can capture what really went down . One of the oft-cited reasons Americans give for not embracing the most popular sport in the world is the low-scoring action that generally personifies the so-called beautiful game . Excuse me ? In this semifinal 's first half , Germany scored five goals in 18 minutes , goals that came so fast and so furious one could hardly keep track : minute 11 , minute 23 , minute 24 , minute 26 , minute 29 . The final score of 7-1 , which propelled Germany into the final and Brazil into a game for third place , is historic in and of itself . And never before had five goals been scored in the first half of a World Cup match . Never before had four goals been scored in a six-minute stretch . And that it took place in Brazil is no small matter . Despite the uproar over the money the nation spent building soccer cathedrals , most Brazilians were not only ready to celebrate victory , they expected it . Their national team had not lost an official game on home soil since 1975 , making the dream of winning the country 's sixth World Cup title seem not just obtainable , but a sure thing . The most brutal ( and funny ) Germany vs. Brazil tweets . Without question , excuses can be made . Brazil played without its captain and central defender , Thiago Silva , who had been suspended after the match against Colombia for the accumulation of yellow cards . Without him , the Brazilian defense appeared powerless and confused against the likes of Thomas Mueller and company . Also missing , of course , was Brazil 's star , forward Neymar , who had been kneed in the back by Colombian Juan Zuniga , fracturing a vertebra in his spine . But it is unlikely even a healthy Neymar could have created balance against such offense . Germany was relentless perfection , taking advantage of every opportunity Brazil offered while simultaneously creating its own prospects . Tears , puns and a Twitter record . Some now worry that the disenchantment on display before the tournament started -- the fury of protests against the billions Brazil spent on the tournament marked by `` Go Home FIFA '' signs throughout the country -- will reignite in force , now that the home team can only hope for a third-place finish at best . Indeed within seconds of the end , Twitter feeds wrongly assumed images of rioting Brazilians demonstrated postgame fury when , it turns out , people were posting older photos of the protests that had taken place throughout the spring . And as the inevitable finger-pointing against coach Luiz Felipe Scolari and his players begins , we can hope that sanity will prevail , taking to heart Scolari 's wisdom in his wrenching postgame press conference that `` life goes on , '' rather than the criminal soccer passion that apparently led to the killing of Colombian Andres Escobar , who scored the own-goal that led to his team 's loss against the United States in 1994 . There are signs to give hope that the love for the game in soccer-crazed Brazil , a country that truly epitomizes what it means to live and breathe a sport , will transcend the devastation of the historic 7-1 score . At the conclusion of the semifinal match , weeping Brazilians stood in tribute to the German team , which had just handed them their most humiliating moment since their loss in 1950 to Uruguay , considered by many to be one of the most shocking results in World Cup history . 5 things about the beat down in Brazil . Without question , this game , and on home turf , trumps that earlier one . But the act of respect shown to Germany by the Brazilian ovation in Belo Horizonte stadium demonstrates how sometimes it is more important to love the game than to win a game . Because it 's the beautiful game , indeed .
Amy Bass : Brazil trashed by Germany at World Cup , but it was more : It was historic . She says Germany 's rout , with fast , furious scoring , denied Brazil its sure-thing victory . She says excuses can be made , but Germany was great ; Brazil coach wisely said `` life goes on '' Bass : Brazil fans gave splendid display of `` beautiful game '' by standing in tribute to Germany .