"Looks like the ol' blitzkrieg," tweeted Andrew Summers, 17, during the Germany-Brazil match.  Summers, whose great-grandfather received the purple heart after being wounded on D-Day in 1944 by a German sniper, was referencing the German blitzkrieg, or "lightning war," which was used against European civilian centers in World War II, and brought almost all of Western Europe under Nazi control.

 

Summers later posted to Facebook that: "Those goose-stepping Germans sure know how to pass," along with a meme of Hitler passing a soccer ball, which read: "You Führious?" 

Americans have also struggled with making references to the genocide committed by the Third Reich, also known as "The Holocaust," when referring to the German National Soccer Team.  

Betsy Allen, a sophomore at UCLA, commented on Facebook that the German Team "used industrial efficiency in dispatching the Brazilian defense, almost like a mechanized mass-murder," referencing their 7-1 victory over Brazil.  

 

An hour later, Allen posted: "This Brazilian team is getting killed! Like in a gas chamber! Oh god, why am I saying these things? This is just a football game!" The post has 21 likes as of press time.  

 

Germany, whose government has emphasized national atonement for its actions in World War II, and which strictly forbids Nazism, will play in the World Cup Final this Sunday potentially against the Netherlands, which it invaded in 1940, or against Argentina, where Hitler clones were allegedly made.