Tuesday, July 8th, 2014
Brazil - Germany
Time: 4 P.M. Eastern/1 P.M. Pacific
Venue: Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte
Television: ESPN
Possible Starting Lineup for Brazil ( 4-2-3-1 )
Cesar;
Maico -- Henrique -- Luiz -- Marcelo
Fernandinho -- Paulinho
Willian -- Oscar -- Hulk
Fred
Possible Starting Lineup for Germany ( 4-3-3 )
Neuer;
Lahm -- Boateng -- Hummels -- Howedes
Schweinsteiger--Khedira--Kroos
Ozil -- Klose -- Muller
OUT WITH INJURY: Brazil: Neymar. Germany: None
SUSPENDED: Brazil: Silva. Germany: None
Tomorrow evening in Belo Horizonte, Germany will go to war with Brazil in their fourth straight World Cup semi-final. Brazil and Germany both know what they need to do to reach a World Cup Final. For Brazil, this is about avenging the demons of the last time they hosted the World Cup. For Germany, this is about getting over the final hurdle. Both of these two teams had to win to get to this point, and both teams dispatched their opponents by 1 goal. Brazil is coming off a shaky 2-1 win that saw Thiago Silva pick up a suspension for yellow card accumulation and their super star Neymar suffer a World Cup ending injury.
On the other hand, Germany is coming off a convincing 1-0 win against France that saw their center back Matt Hummels pick up his first goal of the campaign. On Germany's side of things, they played a game that generated offense, didn't allow France to play the way they wanted to, and they basically controlled the entirety of the game. This is not a team that Brazilian fans are looking forward to going up against, especially when you consider that they are missing Neymar and Thiago Silva, their two main players.
Brazil - Germany will be a hard fought contest because both teams are incredibly good and have an extra motivation to make sure they get to the final. While Brazil might not have the strongest team they could have fielded, they will have a stadium of 60,000 plus and a whole nation outside the stadium demanding that they avenge what happened the last time they hosted the World Cup when they lost to Uruguay in the final. Germany, however, has made the World Cup semi finals a record 4 times in a row and want to get over that final hurdle. Additionally, the last time they appeared in the final in 2002 they were defeated by Brazil. These teams have a long history with each other and a very long history when it comes to success in the World Cup. For a soccer fan, you can't ask for a better match up than this. Brazil - Germany is shaping up to be an instant classic.
Prediction: Many predicted Brazil to win the whole World Cup before it started. However, Germany has been absolutely world class in the way they have bossed their opponents around this tournament, while Brazil hasn't been able to play the way they wanted to throughout this entire World Cup. Going up against Germany and having less of the ball will frustrate Brazil, allowing Germany to dictate the entire game. Add on the fact that Germany is trying to avenge the 2002 World Cup, and everything this time around is shaping up for the Germans to take it all. The Germans should win this one. Germany 3 - 1 Brazil.