All in all, Tuesday was a lousy day in Brazil.  The national host team didn’t just lose to Germany; it lost by an unheard of margin in World Cup history, 7-1.  It was cold and drizzly in the biggest cities.  And a well-orchestrated mob ran amok on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach.

Hundreds stampeded off the famed beach to escape the rampaging youths who were robbing the tourists that gathered to watch the match on giant outdoor TV screens.  The so-called “arrastao” mass robbery works like this:  hundreds of youths run through the crowd, snatching bags, jewelry, phones, cameras – anything they can get their hands on.  And they run off, with military police outnumbered and unable to catch up.

In Belo Horizonte’s Mineirao Stadium, Brazil wasn’t just defeated by the German team – It was routed in front of the entire world, humiliated at its own party.  Germany scored five goals in just 18 minutes, a pace so bewildering that sports broadcaster openly joked that they weren’t sure if they were watching the game, or watching instant replays.  With the score still 5-0, fans were seen leaving the stadium and heading home at half time.  The mood and the weather was better in Berlin.  Scoring just once for pride in the final moments of the match, bewildered Brazil was left crying in the rain, looking forward to battling it out for third place.