I think what made this result even more colossal, certainly from Brazil's own perspective was this bizarre superiority complex which Brazil and in particular their fans seem to have.

I can understand certain sports teams and their fans having a justifiable superiority complex, as there are some sports teams who are historically way better than all the rest for whatever reason and it is a disaster when they lose a single match or tournament.

The ones which spring to mind would be the USA basketball team and perhaps the New Zealand rugby union team or the Australia rugby league team. Maybe the US athletic team or even their Olympic squad as a whole.

However, some teams seem to have these superiority complexes without any justification whatsoever. The Brazil football team are one - I didn't realise to what extent until watching the build up to this World Cup. I think maybe the India cricket team would be another?

Football at all levels is a very even sport. Anyone can beat anyone and nobody dominates competitions for any length of time. Brazil perhaps were superior for 10-15 years around the time of Pele but they certainly aren't the dominant force in the history of the game that their fans seem to think. Their fans have spoken as if they have some divine right to win this tournament when any rational look at the players would have shown their team/squad to be far inferior to many of the other nations competing.

Where do these misguided superiority complexes come from?

They've definitely been a huge powerhouse of football for many decades though. They've appeared in every single World Cup, and their only lean period (by their standards) was the 1980s and 1990.

Tonight's result must have been an absolute shock to their system.....it would be like seeing the All Blacks lose 45-0 at home in a Rugby World Cup semi final.

Gods team

Brazil are still the only team to have 5 stars. Italy have 4, but their first two stars were won in a time no one remembers. Germany only have 3. They still have to earn their 4th. The best player of all time is considered to be Brazilian. Brazil have displayed beautiful football over the years even in World Cups they haven't won.

I would say their feeling of superiority was justified, but the current Brazil squad is an embarrassment to their predecessors and has nothing to do with the great traditional Brazilian football.

Brazil think the trophy has their name on it every World Cup. If they lose and go out "it's Brazil having a bad day" and not the other team is superior.

Arrogant team, arrogant fans. But all that changed tonight. For once, Brazil might just admit that Germany were a superior team.

That's the point though, the World Cup count reads 5/4/3/2/2 etc etc, so they are only slightly ahead of the other teams in terms of being statistically the most successful team ever. Other than 10-15 years of dominance which was around 50 years ago, they haven't been the outstanding dominant force. The superiority complex is unmerited. Their current team features a goalkeeper who can't get a game for QPR yet their fans still thought they had some divine right to win the tournament?

They might have been able to play beautiful, attacking football in 1970 and not worry about defence but football in 2014 is about defence first and foremost. I still can't believe they got away with attacking defenders like Roberto Carlos, Cafu and Lucio in 2002 but they certainly couldn't get away with attacking defenders like David Luiz and Marcelo in 2014.

You have to remember though that you can't just judge them on football results alone. In many of their World Cup games over the years, they were hugely dominant with tons of possession and accurate passes......their style of play was always extremely impressive (not in this tournament though).

It may not have been a sense of superiority, it may have been more about belief.
Belief that had been instilled into them that if they were passionate enough it would be their destiny to get to the final.
So they ran out onto the field like headless chickens thinking pure belief would see them through and make them play well.

But Germany had cool heads and knew that they had to be focused and in control of their emotions.

A bit like how many believe that our England team would be world beaters if we showed more passion.
Or like on a TV talent show a bad singer thinks they can progress if they can convince the judges that they want it more than anything.

The Germans had much better ball skills than the Brazilians. That's even more embarrassing than the score line.

On the upside for the Brazilians, the majority (of city dwellers) will now probably get what they want - A new President in the upcoming election.

Brazil were lucky to get to the semi-finals. They are a poor team who got ruthlessly shown up last night by a very good side.
Neymar can be marked out of games also.
I think the Germans weakness is the lack of pace across the back. As the Ghanians proved if you run at them then chances will be forthcoming.
If it's The Netherlands v Germany on Sunday van Gaal will surely play 3 up front with The Boy Wonder on the right and RvP through the middle.

Hindsight is 20/20.

Good analysis. The Brazillians seemed to have worked themselves up into a state of hysteria. Football should be played with the head, not the heart.

I wish we could ban the word "passion" from discussion about the England team and instead look up to the cold, clinical professionalism of the Germans.

To quote Andrea Pirlo: "I think therefore I play"

Brazil were under more pressure than any other host nation in history, for most the mininum expectation would be to reach the semi final, even Germany were satisfied to do that in 2006, for Brazil the minimum expectation was to win it, even though the team quite clearly wasn't good enough.

I did wonder this especially when I heard Big Phil talk the team up as superstars - I think much of that was just his way of trying to get the best out of his squad and it largely worked up until the semi. I think the Brazilian players and fans felt it was their destiny to win this world cup and there is nothing really wrong with that ... you gotta dream.

I think if you dig deeper though not a lot of Brazil fans (truthfully) thought they would win against Germany without Neymar and their captain Thiago Silva - who are their 2 true world class players (along possibly with Dani Alves - who somehow was dropped).

The thing that has bothered me really from the Brazilian's is the lack of respect they have shown to their opponents choosing solely to focus on themselves - look at Germany and how they go about their business and it is night and day ...

Indeed. I've noticed that Lionel Messi fans have that exact same complex. This is why i'm hoping for another spanking.

I think this world cup has shown it isn't about defence or free flowing attacking football or individual brilliance - if you get 16 or 18 players who completely buy into a style of playing and are shaped into a team over a few years they can be a match for anybody over 90 minutes.

Brazilian fans aren't consumed by superiority, they've lived in constant fear of the Maracanazo over their shoulder for 64 years. Yesterday was the closest they could come to fears being realised again.

This has even been mentioned in relation to the way Brazil's players sang the national anthem, which is a contradiction. When footballers don't sing the national anthem they are accused of lacking passion and pride, and people point to the way Rugby players sing the anthem and say footballers should be more like that. However, Brazil sang their anthem like a Rugby team, and all of a sudden that's a negative thing because they're too emotional and not focused on the game. So, they're damned if they do, damned if they don't.

Instead of passion, 'commitment'.

Yesterday the lifting of the "Neymar" shirt was the most embarrassing thing I have ever seen. Brazil are supposed to be a powerful, confident team who have won the World Cup many times... yet they were acting like desperate underdogs pining for their fallen "leader" even before kick-off.

It seems like they were all reliant on Neymar and without him they looked like little lost puppies who had forgotten how to play football.

David Luiz looked like he had been the victim of a Jeffrey Dahmer specialty of having a small hole drilled into his frontal lobe with acid poured down it in order to turn him into a disorientated, aimless Zombie.

I've made jokes about the goalkeeper resembling Michael Buble and now I think Buble would have made a better effort (he just hasn't played football yet).

I've been annoyed by Brazil's attitude that its their divine right to the trophy every World Cup, so yesterday was a very enjoyable day in that respect. To see them get utterly exposed and destroyed after many many World Cups was fantastic.