Thomas Müller pinpoints the moment Brazil came apart to one minute of his own: the second goal.

“You could feel the pressure on Brazil because they were playing at home. It was simply too much. After the second goal, they lost their minds a little. They made some stupid mistakes because they wanted to fight back so hard. And then suddenly it was 5-0,” he said on the Late Run podcast, published on 1 October.

Twelve years on from the 7-1 at the Mineirão in Belo Horizonte, that scoreline is still the clearest marker Müller has for how fast the semifinal unraveled.

His first goal arrived in the 11th minute. A Miroslav Klose rebound followed, then Toni Kroos struck twice in quick succession, and Sami Khedira made it 5-0 by the 29th minute.

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Klose’s finish was also his 16th at a World Cup, moving him past Brazil’s Ronaldo for the most in the tournament’s history.

The first quarter of an hour had not pointed anywhere near that.

“The first 15 minutes were slow. Both teams were nervous. There were lots of misplaced passes on both sides.”

Five goals, and a dressing room checking the scoreboard

Then the burst began.

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“Between roughly the 15th and 28th minute, we scored five goals in a World Cup semifinal.”

Germany walked off at halftime with a scoreline so improbable that the players needed to confirm it to one another.

“We looked at each other in the locker room: ‘5-0.’ It had actually happened.”

The last 15 minutes with David Luiz

By full time, André Schürrle had added two more and Oscar had pulled one back in the final minute. In between, Müller’s problem on the pitch was less tactical than physical.

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“During the last 15 minutes, I think he wanted to hit me once or twice. So I was just running away from him. No matter where the ball was going, he was there. I was thinking: ‘No, I don’t want the ball. Please stand next to Dante instead.’”

Müller also returned to the generation of German players around him that night.

“Sami Khedira, Toni Kroos, Manuel Neuer. We were all at very good moments in our careers. So we could feel that we had a chance. But actually delivering on that potential was another thing.”

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