Host nation Brazil’s miserable run of form at the World Cup continued with a 3-0 loss to the Netherlands in the third-place playoff in Brasília on Saturday afternoon.
Any hopes of Brazil saving face at its own party evaporated within two minutes, when Thiago Silva pulled down Arjen Robben on the edge of the area. Silva, who missed the 7 -1 semifinal rout against Germany through suspension and was supposed to bring stability to a shaky Brazilian backline, was lucky only to receive a yellow card for the foul. Robin van Persie made no mistake with the penalty, firing his spot kick past Júlio César into the top corner.
It got worse quickly. Playing a high line that invited counterattacks from the Dutch, the Brazilians went 2-0 down in the 16th minute when David Luiz headed Jonathan De Guzman’s cross straight to Netherlands defender Daley Blind, who had time and space to control and volley past Júlio César.
The Dutch comfortably defended a two-goal cushion against a ramshackle Brazilian offence. Brazil attacked without purpose or intelligence. And for good measure added another one to make it a quarter of a dozen goals to nil.
