After losing 7-1 to Germany in the semifinals, the third-place match against Netherlands was Brazil's last chance to save some dignity as the host nation of the World Cup. Instead, they were embarrassed 3-0 after falling behind 2-0 in the first 16 minutes.
The onslaught began immediately, with Arjen Robben of Netherlands getting free and appearing to have a 1-on-1 with the keeper. But Brazil's Thiago Silva pulled Robben down from behind and a penalty kick was awarded.
The foul did start outside the box although it may have continued into the box.
More amazingly, Silva was only given a yellow card and was not sent off with a red.
This led to a perfectly-executed penalty kick by Robin van Persie who placed the ball into the upper-right corner.
Then, in the 16th minute, Netherlands played a cross in front of the goal. Unfortunately for Brazil's David Luiz, his momentum was towards the goal, so when he tried to head it clear, it landed at the feet of an unmarked Netherlands player in the middle of the box.
Not many players are going to miss from this spot. Daley Blind, a lefty, even converted this with his off-foot.
But this goal was not without controversy. The pass just prior to the cross into the middle appeared to be offside.
At halftime it was 2-0 and no team has ever trailed by two or more goals at halftime of a World Cup match and come back to win. Sensing this, Brazilian supporters were booing their national team as it walked off the pitch.
Brazil was unable to mount much of an attack in the second half. Of their five second-half shots, only one was on target. Netherlands added one more late goal to make the final score 3-0.
In Brazil's final 200 minutes of play at the World Cup, they scored just one goal and that was in the final minute of their 7-1 loss to Germany.
