Brazil glad to restore some pride as 2014 fiasco avenged

BERLIN - Defender Thiago Silva believes Brazil restored some pride in its famous shirt after a 1-0 friendly win over Germany in Berlin allowed his team to put its 2014 World Cup mauling behind them.

Gabriel Jesus' first-half goal at a sold-out Olympic Stadium on Tuesday saw Brazil end Germany's unbeaten run of 22 games, dating back to its Euro 2016 semifinal defeat by host France.

"It was a matter of pride, after all that has been written and said," said Silva, who was suspended for the 7-1 rout in Belo Horizonte nearly four years ago.

"This jersey deserves a little more respect. That's why I'm overjoyed about winning against a big opponent."

The victory gained a measure of revenge for five-time world champion Brazil, whose coach Tite had admitted he is still haunted by the 2014 thrashing.

The 56-year-old said his side had learned the lesson and showed cool heads in chilly Berlin.

"You (media) have spoken a lot about the 7-1 result. The reality is that it is over - we simply played well here and we won," said Tite.

"We had no anger or hatred, you can't play well with emotions like that. We weren't trying to rebuild lost pride, we just wanted to put in a good performance.

"There are positive things to take from the game and the result, but we made a few mistakes, we gave away some possession and we lacked some width in our game."

Tite said he was pleased to see Brazil earn wins over Russia and now Germany in the last week without injured star forward Neymar.

"We are learning to play well without Neymar and that is part of our strength," said the Brazil boss.

Defending world champion Germany is now winless in four games after draws against England, France and Spain.

"We have lost the game, but we can live with it as we have four or five points which we need to intensively work on," said Germany head coach Joachim Loew.

"It was to be expected that Brazil, with its injured soul, played its best team and were highly motivated.

"It wasn't our day. We made too many mistakes, which allowed Brazil to grow in strength and confidence.

"We had a few young players, who will learn from this, but in addition, the body language was not right from some players."

There was some relief for Loew after Germany captain Jerome Boateng twisted ankle ligaments and had to come off in the second half.

"I don't think it's so bad and that nothing is torn," revealed Loew.

The Germany boss made seven changes from the team which started the 1-1 draw with Spain last Friday and included just two World Cup winners.

Kroos felt some fringe players had blown their chance at earning a World Cup place.

"There were a few players who had the chance to show what they could do, but didn't take it - that's annoying," said the Real Madrid midfielder.

"We saw today that we aren't as good as we are made out to be and as some players believe. There is a lot of room for improvement."

Agence France-presse