A devastated silence fell over Rio de Janeiro on Friday after the country's dreams of a sixth World Cup title were crushed by Holland in a stunning 2-1 defeat for the Brazilian team.

"It's truly a nightmare!" TV Globo's celebrated commentator Galvao cried.

In the streets of Rio, quiet reigned and the frenzied pre-match drone of vuvuzelas and klaxons was long gone after Holland managed to equalise and then benefit from a Brazilian own goal in the second half of the quarter-final match.

At Copacabana beach, where some 50,000 fans sporting their team's green and yellow colours had gathered, many were in tears, hanging their heads and refusing to speak.

Others cursed Brazilian coach Dunga and Felipe Melo, the Brazilian defensive midfielder who scored an own goal and was later sent off.

"I was very surprised by the totally disproportionate emotional unbalance shown by the team after the score was equalised," former Brazil footballer Walter Casagrande Junior told TV Globo.

In a Copacabana bar, fans consoled each other and drowned their sorrows in beer, accompanied by appropriately downbeat music.

Elsewhere across the country, bitter fans who had gathered to cheer on their teams slowly dispersed in the knowledge that their next shot at another title won't come until 2014, when Brazil will host the World Cup.

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