Germany 7 Brazil 1: Welcome to the Machine

Rio Ferdinand has banked a few million quid as a footballer.

Imagine what he would have done if he'd spent all that time on Bovada or in Las Vegas.

The famed central defender and retired England international has been serving as an analyst for London's Daily Mail during the World Cup. Prior to the semi-final match between perennial powers Germany and Brazil, he made this bold proclamation:

Germany will demolish Brazil's dodgy defense ...

Anyone who heeded his words -- or indeed, took a moment in the Daily Stake section -- would be all the wealthier for it right now. Die Mannschaft became Die Maschine. The demolition was well and truly an exhibition of shock and awe.

A brace of records was broken by the onslaught. And make no mistake; this destruction was about more than Neymar and team captain Thiago Silva being missed. But as a sidebar on that subject, the Seleçãos reaped what they had sown in a cynically arrogant display against Colombia.

Again, to quote the premonitional Ferdinand:

They also got lucky against Colombia because of a referee who let them get away with murder ... The referees' leniency toward Brazil has got to stop. It's embarrassing.

Well, it stopped in the semis. And the embarrassment was on the side that deserved it.

The first four goals put paid to the occasion, with the first two being as clinical as the Germans can get and the pair by Toni Kroos confirming the disparity of intensity between the two sides. Matters just went off the hook from there:

 

The term shellshocked may be better left to the Brazilians, whose mourning period begins today and may last for years. For North Americans, perhaps a more resounding allegory would leave the lasting impression that this result conveys ...