Brazil’s 7-1 loss to Germany brings back memories of Canada’s 8-1 thumping by Honduras

What Brazilian soccer fans went through in Tuesday's crushing7-1 loss to Germany World Cup semifinal loss to Germany is familiar on at least some level to Canadian soccer fans, who saw their own dreams of making it to the World Cup for the first time since 1986 explode in flames two years ago with an 8-1 loss to Honduras in qualifying. The stages were very different, of course; Brazil's loss came in the World Cup semifinal, at home, with the whole country watching and hoping, while Canada's came in a tiny stadium in Honduras during CONCACAF qualifying and was mostly only noticed by diehard soccer fans. Still, the hopes and dreams that existed for both groups of fans were similar, as were the absolutely devastating performances from the players they'd put their trust in.

Both Canada and Brazil went into their respective matches with some trepidation. For Brazil, the losses of superstar forward Neymar (to a back injury) and captain and top centre back Thiago Silva (to a suspension for accumulating yellow cards) meant their team was missing two crucial pieces, and they were facing a formidable German team that was favoured by oddsmakers. For Canada, the conditions and fan support expected in Honduras set that match up as a challenging one, as did the Honduran team's superior FIFA ranking and World Cup history. Still, both sides had plenty of optimism too; Brazil figured to play with emotion and build off their fans' support to advance to the final, while Canada had the advantage of leading Honduras in the standings and needed only a draw to advance to the final round of qualifying, making the task before them look doable. (It's notable that Honduras made it to this World Cup, too; while surviving the final stage wouldn't have been easy, if Canada had somehow pulled off a draw or a win against Honduras, they might have earned their first World Cup berth since 1986.) For both Canada and Brazil, though, things went horribly wrong very quickly.

The Brazilian loss Tuesday was remarkable for just how quickly it went south, with the Germans scoring in the 10th minute and adding four more in the next 19 minutes to set a World Cup record. However, Canada's match against Honduras got off to even a worse start, with Jerry Bengtson putting the home side up 1-0 just six minutes into the match. Honduras then scored three more goals in the next 26 minutes and took a 4-0 lead into the half, all but dooming Canada's hopes. The Canadians went into the match with a lot of emotion, which didn't pay off, and the same happened for Brazil. The shock evident to the Brazilian and Canadian players at the half was similar, too; Canadian captain Kevin McKenna told Sportsnet's Arash Madani at the break "Right from the get-go, we weren't in the game," while many Brazilian players were yelling at each other even before the break.

Things played out similarly in the rest of both matches, too, with the winners continuing their dominance and the losers managing one goal each. Although their final score was lower, Germany's performance may have been even more dominant, as they deliberately throttled back their offence; Honduras kept going for it until the end. The crushing result was the same in both cases, too, and the post-game reactions were similar. Canadian midfielder Julian de Guzman said "We pretty much embarrassed ourselves," while McKenna said "We were terrible ... It’s an absolute low for us." Meanwhile, Brazilian defender David Luiz said " I'm sorry, I'm sorry to all Brazilians, I just wanted to see them smile, everyone know how important it was. They were the best, they prepared better, they played better, we let in four goals in six minutes. It is a very sad day and we we'll learn from it."

The coaches' comments were along the same lines as well. Canada's Stephen Hart said "All I can do is ask the fans’ forgiveness on behalf of the players. I know they’ll never forgive me but on behalf of the players, forgive them." (He resigned two days later). Brazil's Luiz Felipe Scolari (who led them to the World Cup in 2002) has refused to resign so far, but he's also taken the blame and begged for forgiveness, saying "I’d ask the people to excuse us for this mistake. I’m sorry we couldn’t get to the final. This is a loss. A catastrophic, terrible loss. The worst loss by a Brazilian national team ever, yes. But we have to learn to deal with that. ... Who is responsible? Who is responsible for picking the team? I am. It’s me. So the catastrophic result can be shared by the whole group, and my players will tell you we will share our responsibilities, but who decided the tactics? I did. So the person responsible is me. I did what I thought was best."

These two losses won't be remembered the same way around the world, of course. The whole world was watching the destruction of the Brazilian national team, as were fans around their country, while the Canadian result got little attention outside the countries involved. Even in Canada, it wasn't high-profile; most Canadians probably didn't even know the national team was playing Honduras, and some probably didn't even hear about it from the SportsCentre "highlights" and media reports afterwards. Brazil's loss, and the national mourning and investigation it's spawned, is much closer to what happened in Canada when the men's hockey team was knocked out of the 2006 Olympics. However, the Canadian loss did spark plenty of changes itself, including Hart's exit, the hiring of famed coach Benito Floro in 2013, and the continued overhaul of the Canadian Soccer Association's governance, strategic plan and long-term development goals.

All of those changes, plus many more, will be required to get Canada back to the World Cup. Brazil's in much better shape, of course; they've won more World Cups than anyone and have never failed to qualify, and making it to the semifinals is a badge of honour despite the embarrassing exit. Everyone may be mocking Brazil now, but they did infinitely better than defending World Cup champions Spain, who couldn't even get out of their group. Still, this loss has sparked national mourning, and it will certainly create some changes for Brazilian soccer going forward. Canadian fans can tell them a loss like this isn't the end of the world, though. Yes, it stings, and yes, it will always be remembered, but in the end, it's still just one game. The loss also inspired Canada to make productive changes, and the Canadian team seems to be in a better place going forward (and with a more coherent and cohesive long-term plan) than it was before the Honduras game. We'll see if Brazil can similarly build off what happened here.