WE were all thinking it, and then Kevin Davies came right out and said it.

As I watched Brazil go into complete and utter meltdown against the Germans it brought back some bad, bad memories.

I had only once previously seen a side lose all sense of purpose – at Wembley, of all places. I think Wanderers fans know what I am talking about.

As flashbacks to the torn-up banners, tear-stained faces and discarded flags started to pass through my head, wouldn’t you just know that the Whites captain that day was thinking exactly the same thing.

Kevin, or “Davo” as he is more colloquially known in these parts, tweeted: “I know what it feels like to be losing 5-0 in a semi-final. Horrible!”

I can’t imagine there is a lot of difference between conceding five or seven. Past a certain number I’d imagine all you want to do is exit the stadium.

But just like Wanderers that fateful April day, the players are rarely allowed to skulk off the field without first being interrogated by us press types first.

By all accounts David Luiz, who had worn the captain’s armband for the first time in Thiago Silva’s absence, conducted his interviews in floods of tears.

I’m positive there were tears shed against Stoke too, although the interviews I conducted after the semi-final – with Davies, the manager Owen Coyle and full-back Gretar Steinsson – were done more in stunned silence.

Brazil will no doubt conduct a thorough inquest into what has gone wrong in this tournament, why it looked so painfully obvious that their only fully functioning component was Neymar.

I’m sure it will go a lot deeper than the investigation that should have been conducted at Wanderers that day. Questions about the tactics employed and the overall squad mentality remain unanswered to this day.

One thing I felt for sure watching the game was that I was really witnessing history.

That capitulation will be talked about for a lot longer than I am on this planet, and not just in Brazil and Germany.

In all the years I have been watching football, I’d guess about 30, I can only think of a handful of incidents, games or occasions that I can confidently say, without hyperbole, will still be discussed into the next millennium.

A few tragic disasters at Bradford, Heysel and Hillsborough should rightly serve as a warning for the sport going into the future – but on the pitch, Manchester United’s win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League final? Liverpool’s miracle in Istanbul? Maradona’s Hand of God?

It is rare you get a sense of having seen true history being made but it was right there in front of our eyes on Tuesday night.

Ilesy’s TV heaven STEVE Wilson introduces the second half of the Brazil capitulation thus: “Ein, Zwei, Drei, Vier, Thumped.” Great quip from the World Cup’s best commentator.

Ilesy’s TV hell A prophetic line from Martin Keown, who somehow landed Tuesday’s semi-final. “Brazil are over-reliant on one player – Neymar at one end and Thiago Silva at the other.”