‘Ghost’ of 7-1 Germany mauling still haunts Brazil: Tite

BERLIN: Brazil coach Tite says the “ghost” of their 7-1 mauling by Germany at the 2014 World Cup still haunts the ‘Selecao’, as the teams prepare to meet on Tuesday.

Brazil suffered their heaviest home defeat when Germany hit four goals in six devastating first-half minutes of the Belo Horizonte semi-final nearly four years ago.Toni Kroos and Andre Schuerrle both scored twice over the 90 minutes as Germany’s attack ran riot en route to winning the World Cup title.

The teams meet in a friendly for the first time since at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium and Tite says Brazil still bear the scars.“This has a huge psychological meaning - no one needs to fool themselves about that,” Tite told German magazine Kicker.

“The 7-1 from the World Cup is like a ghost.“It’s present, people still talk about it, but the more you talk about it, the less this ‘ghost’ disappears.“It won’t just be a sporting challenge, but a huge emotional challenge too.

“We are preparing to give our best performance, which will be important, but of course I also want a good result.”Tite has been in charge of Brazil since 2016, but Felipe Scolari was head coach for the mauling by Germany at the last World Cup.“I was watching the game at home in Sao Paulo with my wife and after the third goal went in, she started to cry,” said the 56-year-old Tite.