The mourning after the nightmare

Brazilians cried, cursed their president and covered their faces in shame after their beloved soccer team's humiliating 7-1 thrashing by Germany in the World Cup semifinals on Tuesday.

After the Germans' fifth goal, well before halftime, hundreds of people left their expensive seats at the stadium in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte.

A section of the crowd chanted obscenities against the players and President Dilma Rousseff, who during the month-long tournament had mostly enjoyed a reprieve from protests over the record $11 billion spent to host it.