Both Brazil and Germany reached the semi-finals with an undefeated record in the competition, with the Brazilians' quarter-final with Colombia causing them to lose forward Neymar to injury, and defender and captain Thiago Silva to accumulation of yellow cards.

Miroslav Klose scored his 16th career World Cup goal and surpassed Brazil's own Ronaldo as the tournament's all-time record goalscorer.

The game has been dubbed the Mineiraço ([minejˈɾasu]) in reference to the Mineirão stadium, evoking a previous "spirit of national shame" known as the Maracanaço in which Brazil unexpectedly lost in the de facto final of the 1950 FIFA World Cup on home soil to Uruguay.

Brazil lost 3–0 to the Netherlands in the third-place play-off, while Germany went on to win the World Cup for the fourth time, defeating Argentina in the final.

Germany had been drawn with Portugal, Ghana and the United States in Group G, and advanced with seven points before beating Algeria in the Round of 16 (after extra time) and France in the quarter-finals.

[7][8][nb 1] Brazil defender and captain Thiago Silva was suspended for the match due to accumulation of yellow cards,[10] despite an appeal against the suspension by the Brazilian Football Confederation.

Goalkeeper Júlio César and stand-in captain David Luiz paid tribute to Neymar by holding his shirt during the national anthem ceremony.

Thomas Müller escaped his marker, David Luiz, in the penalty box, and Toni Kroos's delivery found him wide open for a side-footed shot into the net.

Another German goal nonetheless came in the 69th minute – Lahm's low cross found substitute André Schürrle, who side-footed the ball into the net from close range.

[26] According to Opta Sports, Fred failed to make a single tackle, cross, run or interception during the match, and actually spent the majority of his time in possession of the ball on the centre spot due to six restarts.

[27] Man of the Match: Toni Kroos (Germany) Assistant referees: Marvin Torrentera (Mexico) Marcos Quintero (Mexico) Fourth official: Mark Geiger (United States) Fifth official: Mark Hurd (United States) Match rules: The game's result was the biggest winning margin in a World Cup semi-final or final.

[29] The outcome was also the worst loss by a host country in World Cup history, as the six-goal difference doubled the previous record margin.

[29] According to reports, after Germany had scored their fifth goal with Khedira, Neymar, who was also watching the match on television in his home in Guarujá, Brazil, switched off his set and went to play poker.

[41] World Cup-winning Brazil manager Luiz Felipe Scolari said the result was the "worst loss by a Brazilian national team ever" and accepted all responsibility for the defeat.

[50] Coach Joachim Löw stated his team had "a clear, persistent game-plan", and as they realised Brazil were "cracking up", they took advantage as in contrast to the Brazilians' nervousness the German players were "extremely cool".

[52][53][54] Toni Kroos, who was chosen as Man of the Match, added that as the Germans felt that in "no game of the Cup, [the Brazilians] played their best", the squad entered with the tactical knowledge on how to counter Brazil: "we took all the balls, and scored the goals".

[40] Müller said he was "shocked by just how open Brazil were" as "Gustavo, Luiz, Dante, Fernandinho and Marcelo were shambolic in their positioning", being confused and disorganized, noting that his German teammates benefited overwhelmingly as "the spaces were bigger than against defence-minded teams".

Löw and players Per Mertesacker and Philipp Lahm even compared the pressure on the Brazilian team and resulting heartbreaking defeat with Germany's own when they hosted the 2006 FIFA World Cup and also lost in the semifinals.

[54][56][57] Lahm added in an interview after the tournament that he had felt "very uneasy" during the match and "not at all euphoric" since the Brazilian team had made mistakes that "don't usually happen at this level",[58] and Mertesacker noted that despite featuring the Germans at the top of their game, "even from the bench, [the semifinal] was crazy to watch".

[67] Other Twitter users compared Germany's dominating performance to their military efforts during World War II and The Holocaust, for example, dubbing it the "Goalocaust".

[68] Bung Moktar Radin, a member of parliament of Malaysia, came under heavy criticism from the Malaysian public and the German ambassador, Holger Michael, for posting such a comment.

"[70] Pornhub issued a plea to stop uploading highlight videos of the match under titles like "Young Brazilians get fucked by entire German soccer team.

"[72] The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Yigal Palmor, mentioned the match when countering Brazil's claim that his country was using disproportionate force in the Gaza conflict, saying "This is not football.

[37][74][75][76] The daughter of goalkeeper Moacir Barbosa, who was scapegoated for the 1950 defeat, said the loss was enough to redeem her father's legacy,[77] while Uruguayan striker Alcides Ghiggia, responsible for the Cup-winning goal of the Maracanazo, felt that though both games were traumatic they could not be compared as the 1950 match had more at stake.

[83] Writing for Sky Sports, Matthew Stanger described the game as the "ultimate embarrassment",[84] while Miguel Delaney of ESPN referred to the match as the Mineirazo, echoing the term invented for the event by the South American Spanish language press.

[85] Barney Ronay in The Guardian described it as "the most humiliating World Cup host nation defeat of all time",[86] and Joe Callaghan of The Independent described it as "the darkest night in Brazil's footballing history".

[87] Wyre Davies, the BBC's Rio de Janeiro correspondent, said of Brazilian's reactions at the stadium and fan parks, "The collective sense of shock, embarrassment and national humiliation across Brazil was impossible to ignore".

[91] In his absence, Scolari replaced Neymar with Bernard to maintain the attacking tradition of Brazilian football, instead of the "'logical call' [which] was surely to bring in an extra midfielder" against the Germans.

[92] The defense that had already been questioned in previous games collapsed as Dante was proven to be an inadequate replacement for the suspended Silva, while David Luiz made uncharacteristic errors during the semi-final.

Both opposing coaches — Rogerio Micale for Brazil and Horst Hrubesch for Germany — downplayed the fact that the gold medal match was a rematch of the World Cup semifinal, but some fans viewed the Olympic final as a chance for revenge and redemption.