Germany heads for World Cup rout over Brazil

Germany players celebrate after scoring during the World Cup semifinal soccer match between Brazil and Germany at the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Tuesday, July 8, 2014. AP PHOTO/FRANK AUGSTEIN

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil–Germany tore apart Brazil 5-0 in the first half of the World Cup semi-final in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday.

Brazil’s dreams of a sixth title on home soil lay in tatters after five goals in 18 minutes from Thomas Mueller, a Toni Kroos’ double, Sami Khedira and the World Cup’s new all-time record scorer Miroslav Klose.

Mueller opened the floodgates for the embarrassingly lopsided scoreline which saw the shattered World Cup hosts booed off at the interval by their own fans.

Unmarked by the far post the Bayern Munich striker headed in a Kroos corner.

Then Klose doubled up for a record 16th goal in the competition.

Kroos added two more in as many minutes to put the Germans 4-0 up before Sami Khedira added a fifth on the half hour mark.

The winner of this semi-final faces either Argentina or the Netherlands, which are in action in the second semi-final in Sao Paul on Wednesday, in Sunday’s final.

Klose, 36, and appearing in his fourth World Cup semi-final, had matched Brazilian legend Ronaldo’s record of 15 World Cup goals when he scored the equalizer in Germany’s 2-2 draw with Ghana in the group stages.

This is his second goal-scoring record in just over a month after he broke Gerd Mueller’s previous mark of 68 goals to become Germany’s top scorer in a 6-1 pre-World Cup friendly win against Armenia.