Black Day for Brasil

Back when,

Brazil's World Cup dreams ended in humiliating and brutal fashion as Germany inflicted their heaviest defeat in the first semi-final in Belo Horizonte. A thunderous occasion that began with Brazil riding a tidal wave of emotion was reduced to a nightmare as Germany were 5-0 up inside 29 remarkable minutes in front of a disbelieving Estadio Mineirao crowd. Brazil's players mourned the absence of the injured Neymar before kick-off, but captain Thiago Silva was an even bigger loss. The result was their first competitive home defeat in 39 years, and the end of their hopes of making it to the World Cup final at the iconic Maracana on Sunday.

Thomas Muller gave the three-time winners an early lead before a period of utter chaos saw Miroslav Klose break the World Cup scoring record, Toni Kroos add two more in the space of 179 seconds and Sami Khedira net a fifth.

 Three years on, the memories of that record 7-1 World Cup semifinal crushing by Germany are still vivid for Brazil center-back Dante.

Those 90 minutes in Belo Horizonte arguably haunt the 33-year-old even more than any other teammate. It was the only match he played at that World Cup.

"That defeat was very, very painful," Dante -- who replaced suspended captain Thiago Silva that day -- recalls.

Yes, it's been hard to get over it.

"Some people tried to oppress us after that game. But that's the way it is, and in the football world you always need to pick yourself back up and keep working."

The absence of captain Silva and star forward Neymar, injured in the quarterfinal, had a bigger impact than anyone could have imagined.

What should have been one of the greatest moments in the country's footballing history became one of its worst, putting the loss alongside the 1950 World Cup final defeat by Uruguay in Rio -- otherwise known as the 'Maracanazo'.