CAPE TOWN, South Africa — They looked nervous. They looked edgy. They looked angry. They looked nothing like the Brazilian teams that had proudly gone before them.
And finally, on Friday afternoon in Port Elizabeth in the World Cup quarterfinals, the Selecao simply looked beaten.
At the final whistle, defender-turned-midfielder Dani Alves collapsed onto the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium grass, completely spent, physically and emotionally. Goalkeeper Julio Cesar was in tears.
Near the Brazil bench, coach Dunga stared grimly at the celebrating Dutch and at his own disconsolate players, then turned and walked silently away.
So much for Dunga becoming the third person to win a World Cup as a player and a coach. Now the only one who can do that this year is Diego Maradona of archrival Argentina.
Meanwhile, the five-time world champion Brazilians are heading home, where a not particularly warm welcome will await them.
The knives will be out for Dunga, who chose pragmatism over flair and controversially left Ronaldinho off his roster. They also will be sharpened for the luckless Felipe Melo, whose own-goal and red card contributed mightily to the downfall of one of the tournament favorites.
For the second World Cup in a row, the Selecao fell short of expectations, and the 2014 World Cup host now has less than four years to rebuild from scratch. But first there will be the autopsy.
In the meantime, the cheers can be heard from one end of Buenos Aires to the other. Argentina's old enemy has been felled, and Maradona's players did not have to lift a hand.
The Netherlands, righting a host of perceived wrongs over the years, did it for them.
Friday's 2-1 victory erased all sorts of bad memories for the Netherlands, which was beaten by Brazil in the 1994 quarterfinals in the U.S. and on penalty kicks in the 1998 semifinals in France. Dunga captained both Brazilian teams.
This week, Dunga traded barbs with former Dutch great Johan Cruyff, who said he would not pay to watch this collection of Brazilian players. Dunga shot back that Cruyff likely never had to pay for anything.
For fans of beautiful, flowing football, with intricate passing moves interspersed with moments of unexpected creativity and invention, this was not the match to watch. It was fast-paced, yes, but it was more about hard tackles and hard work.
Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk had said in the lead-up that "total football" of Cruyff's era is dead.
"Actually, Cruyff is right when he says football has no more magic," former Brazilian star Romario told Brazil's O Globo newspaper. "Not only in Brazil but all over the world. In his age and at the start of mine, there were five or six great players in each team. Today, no.
"Even in our 1994 team, there wasn't much magic. From 1990 up to here, it started to become more difficult."
That's what Ghana discovered Friday night in Johannesburg. The conqueror of the U.S. was desperately hoping for some magic against Uruguay, but the only trick was a vanishing act.
The last African team in the tournament is going home. Just like Brazil.
gjones@tribune.com