RIO DE JANEIRO – It seems you hear it all the time in Brazil since the extraordinary events of July 8, 2014. Every time a child trips on the sidewalk, a workman smacks his thumb with a hammer, a driver gets cut off by a careless motorist or the nation lurches into yet another financial trough the same ironic words can be heard.
“And … Germany scores again!”
Brazil’s 7-1 defeat to Germany in the semifinal of a World Cup it felt destined to win was the kind of embarrassment that does not heal quickly. Yet perhaps only here, in this country where to say soccer is a religion would be to downplay its importance, could the fallout be so great.