The recent humiliating defeat of one of the top-rated international football teams in the world underlines the beauty of this game with its unpredictability, its high drama and scintillating brilliance.

Brazil, the country with the best record in World Cup history are not the only team to be hit by a goal avalanche in 18 minutes. In this World Cup we witnessed Portugal succumbing to a Netherlands goal rush in less than 30 minutes.

Germany itself in a World Cup match qualifier in September 2001 was humiliated at home by England losing 5-1.

Such heavy defeats when a team suddenly undergoes a psychological breakdown are not so rare; and like the mythological Phoenix they all rise from their ashes to triumph once again.

The Brazil-Germany match has clearly shown the two contrasting facets of the games as cheers inevitably, at some stage, change into boos; the sweet wine of victory followed by the bitter gall of defeat.

However, in the Brazil-Germany semi-final there was a glaring silver lining in the final stages of this intriguing game although it has passed unnoticed by a section of the foreign press.

The English commentator’s remarks were biting and incisive, expressing the feelings of millions, with expressions like “no hiding place”; Luiz Felipe Scolari “hiding in the dug-out” and players soon to rush “to the sanctity of the dressing room” as it is the habit when a team is vanquished in this matter.

However, Brazil was magnanimous in defeat as Scolari embraced the German coach and many of the Brazilian players stayed on the field to give the German players a standing ovation.

Was I asleep? Was I dreaming? This fine gesture after a match where sportsmanship was of the highest order deserves to be written in letters of gold in the annals of the World Cup.