Why was the Brazilian defense so weak?

They were missing their best defender, Thiago Silva, who was disqualified due to an extremely dumb infraction committed in their prior game. They were also missing their best forward, Neymar, so after the 2nd German goal, it seemed that the whole team collectively went in the tank. They were totally dispirited and probably unconsciously felt that they would not be able to mount a comeback.
Missing their best defender and captain was probably crucial.

Because they’re no more than average players at best, combine that with the huge pressure they placed on themselves, simply by being Brazil & hosting the tournament.
This was the weakest team in memory, certainly since the terrible sides of the 74/78 World Cups, they were always going to be found out & were ripe for a hefty beating.

Missing Thiago & Neymar is just papering over the huge cracks in a side that were running on passion & hope as much as anything, that gets you only so far at the top level in any sport.
The fallout from that defeat will be massive, Scolari will be gone, some of the players will never pull a Brazil jersey on again. It mirrors what happened last time Brazil hosted the World Cup in 1950, they lost to great rivals Uruguay & years later one of the players wrote a book, in it he spoke of the players shame & that most of them went into hiding & never recovered in their careers.

They were absolutely slaughtered by the media & fans, forever tarnished by their failure, that’s how passionate Brazillians are about their football & losing that badly in a World Cup they hosted, the scars will run deep.

Germany’s offense was just that good. They have played some very good teams in this tournament and have found what it takes to play and win at the World Cup level. They will be hard to beat.

Germany were solid, but they were gifted most of the goals by Brazil’s inept defence which basically crumbled. They’re a decent side, but they struggled to beat relative minnows Algeria in extra time & have weaknesses of their own.

Does that mean that Brazil is a ‘lame’ team?

This Brazil team certainly, a poor side that got found out.

It’s not that Brazil’s defense was weak, but that Germany’s offense was so much better.

I was hoping for Germany to lose, because they were playing like arse the whole tournament.

@ucme Yes, I believe that in Brazil heads will roll.
Germany is a strong side, but they struggled to beat the U.S., and only managed a tie with Ghana.

@2davidc8 This has been a pretty substandard tournament when all’s said & done.
Lots of goals & a few decent games in the group stages, but the knockout matches have stunk the place out. I don’t think one team has stood out as a likely winner, all have struggled along the way.
The winner will be the team who makes the least mistakes & performs better on the day of the final rather than an outstanding side playing at the top of their game.
About to settle down & watch Argentina v Holland, a repeat of the 1978 final, picked Argentina to win outright before the tournament began, but again, without Messi, they’re an ordinary team.

@ucme Agree that this has been a substandard tournament.

Brazil forward Fred was ineffective and largely invisible in their games. There are rumors in the social media that Brazil coach Scolari was “instructed” by some higher-up to play him and was only allowed to take him out in the second half. Does anyone know anything about that?

By the way, this was even before the tournament started, and not a post-failure repercussion.

They quit and put in the towel. To me, Germany didn’t destroy them, for me, Brazil let themselves be destroyed with no heart

I see this all the time in American football and baseball where the team that is ‘maturing’ in the playoffs can often come from behind and beat the favorites with sheer enthusiasm and determination. Brazil though was hobbled by having 2 key players out of the match and that is often the tipping point in huge playoff games. Germany smartly exploited this weakness of Brazilian team.

Brazil’s defense is good but the offense of Germany was too good

it just proved that instead of spending millions of dollars hosting the world cup they should have tried to help the poor people in brazil. i have been to brazil and most people there are so poor . it is sad. what a waste of money.

I must agree with @chinchin31