Germany routs Brazil 7-1, reaches World Cup final

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil — Germany poured in the goals Tuesday to hand Brazil its heaviest World Cup loss ever with an astounding 7-1 rout in the semifinals that stunned the host nation.

Miroslav Klose scored a record-setting 16th career World Cup goal in a five-goal spurt in the first half as Brazil’s defense was torn apart.

The Germans reached their eighth final and will face either Argentina or the Netherlands on Sunday at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

Previously, Brazil’s biggest World Cup loss was 3-0 to France in the 1998 final. This matched their biggest ever margin of defeat in any competition, equaling a 6-0 loss to Uruguay in 1920 in the South American championship, the predecessor of the Copa America.

“We wanted to make the people happy ... unfortunately we couldn’t,” defender David Luiz said. “We apologize to all Brazilians.”

It’s also Brazil’s first loss in a competitive match on home soil since 1975, when Peru won 3-1 at the very same Mineirao Stadium in the Copa America. Its last loss at home came in a friendly with Paraguay in 2002.

Brazil’s attack was weakened by the loss of Neymar, who fractured a vertebra after getting kneed in the back in the quarterfinal win over Colombia. But it was Brazil’s porous defense that was the biggest problem in the first half as the host also sorely missed suspended captain Thiago Silva.

On Tuesday, with Bernard playing as the third striker, Brazil attacked from the start. But they failed to get any solid chances, and it wasn’t long before the Germans opened up the defense and started the rout.

Toni Kroos and Andre Schuerrle scored two goals each, while Thomas Mueller and Sami Khedira added the others.

Oscar pulled a late goal back for Brazil.

It was Germany’s biggest World Cup win since routing Saudi Arabia 8-0 in a group match in 2002.

Klose scored his record goal in the 23rd minute, pushing him past Brazil striker Ronaldo’s 15 career World Cup goals. The German had his original shot saved, but he followed up as Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar spilled the ball, easily scoring from the rebound.

Kroos scored his first goal in the 25th minute, knocking in a cross from Philipp Lahm that bypassed Mueller in the middle. He made it 4-0 a minute later, beating Cesar after a defensive mistake from Fernandinho left the ball on the feet of Khedira.

Mueller scored the first goal, one-timing a corner from Kroos past Cesar in the 11th minute. Khedira made it 5-0 in the 29th, taking a pass from Mesut Ozil and again beating Cesar.

Schuerrle, who came on for Klose in the 58th minute, scored from a cross by Lahm in the 69th, and then knocked a shot off the underside of the crossbar and into the net in the 79th.

It’s the first time Brazil had allowed five goals in a World Cup match since the 1938 tournament in France, when the team beat Poland 6-5 in extra time.