On Monday, June 8, 2024, it will be exactly 10 years since the event that shook the foundations of Brazilian football: the Mineirazo.
🇩🇪 7-1 🇧🇷
¿Dónde estabas el 8 de julio de 2014?#CopaMundialFIFA
— Copa Mundial FIFA 🏆 (@fifaworldcup_es) July 8, 2023
Brazil, as the clear favorite and host of the 2014 World Cup, faced the semifinals of the top international tournament with a strong psychological burden, as an entire generation carried the pressure of advancing to the coveted final.
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All this came after the trauma of Neymar’s injury, which, according to the doctor who treated him, nearly left him unable to walk again.
Today, at Sambafoot, we focus on the psychological impact that Neymar’s injury had on an unrecognizable Brazil that fell to a scandalous 1-7 defeat against Germany.
Neymar and an injury that almost changed his life
It was during the quarterfinals of the 2014 Brazil World Cup. Brazil faced the tournament’s revelation team: Colombia, led by James Rodríguez. Thiago Silva would break the deadlock for the Seleção, and with a memorable free-kick goal, David Luiz increased the lead to a temporary 2-0. James Rodríguez would score for Colombia in the 80th minute, signing what would be the final 2-1.
🔙 #TalDiaComoHoy en la #WorldCup de 2014, @CBF_Futebol 🇧🇷 se clasificaba para semifinales tras derrotar 2-1 a @FCFSeleccionCol 🇨🇴
Y gran parte de culpa la tuvo @DavidLuiz_4 con este espectacular gol 🙀pic.twitter.com/PkHtxibVjm
— Copa Mundial FIFA 🏆 (@fifaworldcup_es) July 4, 2021
In the final moments of the match, Colombian Camilo Zúñiga would commit a violent foul on Neymar. After a corner, Zúñiga would raise his knee to win the aerial duel against Neymar, but his knee forcefully collided with the lower part of Neymar’s back, causing him severe pain like he had never experienced before. All he knew was that he couldn’t feel his legs.
After the play stopped, Marcelo quickly approached Neymar and, frightened, received news that no footballer wants to hear, not for themselves, a colleague, or a rival: “I can’t feel my legs.”
Years later, in an interview, Neymar firsthand recounted what happened after that painful injury: “When I hurt my back, Marcelo tried to help me up, but I couldn’t. I tried to move my legs, but I couldn’t, I had no strength to get up.” A scene that surely caused strong trauma among his teammates.
Immobile, Neymar was placed on a stretcher, then urgently transported to a hospital where, hours later, he received two pieces of news, one positive and one negative.
The negative? He would miss the rest of the World Cup. The positive? If the blow had been two centimeters to the side, he might never have walked again.
Neymar llora recordando su lesión: "Me pude quedar en silla de ruedas" ▶ http://t.co/jeypJ6RiX6 #Brasil2014 pic.twitter.com/5kqJnzTP0w
— MARCA (@marca) July 11, 2014
The psychological impact on a starless Brazil
After what was considered a catastrophe by Felipão, coach of the Brazilian National Team, Brazil faced a difficult meeting against Germany at the Mineirão Stadium.
Unbeknownst to them, and ten years after that inexplicable event that changed Brazilian football forever, Brazil would sign their worst performance in recorded football history, falling 1-7 to the eventual champion, Germany.
There are many theories trying to find an explanation for that atypical, unexpected, and historic thrashing. For many, the psychological factor played a more than crucial role.
The “worst Brazil in history,” as many called that generation, carried the weight of having to make it to the grand final and win that World Cup at home. All this, without their biggest star, Neymar Jr., and without a bulwark in their defense, Thiago Silva, who missed the match due to suspension.
Years later, and now with a colder analysis, Felipe Scolari spoke about the importance of these absences: “I have nothing to justify. That day we missed Thiago Silva and Neymar, who was injured. Everything went wrong, but I wouldn’t do anything different.”
Would Brazil have measured up against Germany with Neymar on the field? It’s uncertain.
The only certainty is that, that Seleção, very surely, would have played without the mental weight of having seen their great star writhing in pain and nearly becoming paraplegic, a factor that could have influenced the mindset of his teammates that fateful afternoon.
