Brazil's 1-7 defeat against Germany is the biggest upset of the tournament: Baichung

Aditi Tyagi

Argentina and Germany are gearing up for the final of FIFA World Cup 2014, scheduled to take place on Sunday, whereas, Netherlands will play against host nation Brazil for the third place on Saturday. In an exclusive chat with Aditi Tyagi of Zee Media, former Indian skipper Baichung Bhutia said that Brazil`s 1-7 loss to Germany was the biggest upset of the tournament. He also stated that best save of the this World Cup was of Tim Howard against Portugal, when he dived on the wrong side but still manage to stop the ball.

Excerpts from the conversation:

Do you think European teams struggled a lot as the tournament is taking place in South America?

Definitely. That is one of the reasons why some big European countries got out of the tournament in the Group stages. Teams like Italy, England and Spain went back home in the early stages as the conditions in Brazil are quite different from Europe.

Which is your favourite goal of this edition?

A lot of goals were really nice but I will go with the Robin van Persie goal against Spain. It was a perfectly timed run. The conversion, force, flight in the goal was beautiful. It was a perfect stealer.


Many goalkeepers have done a fabulous job in the World Cup, which is your favourite save?

Again there are many goalies who made some outstanding saves, but you can`t keep everybody in the top list. The best performance was by Everton and USA goalkeeper Tim Howard. And his save against Portugal, when he dived the wrong side but still managed to stop the shot from getting in. But if I have to pick the most crucial save, then it would be of Sergio Romero, when he saved the penalty kick of Wesley Sneijder in the semi-finals.

According to you what`s the biggest upset of the tournament?

For me it`s undoubtedly Brazil`s 1-7 defeat against Germany in the semi-finals. Because they lost with such a huge margin and that too while playing in front of their home crowd. They are five-time champions, have produced such big players in the history of the game. But the way they lost the match will remain as the black patch in their football history.