The Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte is the setting for Tuesday’s much anticipated FIFA World Cup 2014 semi-final clash between Brazil and Germany.
While Brazil qualified for the semis after they beat Colombia 2-1 in a hotly contested game, Germany beat France 1-0 courtesy a fantastic reverse header from Mats Hummels after Toni Kroos provided a great delivery from a free-kick.
A tournament ending injury to Neymar and a suspension for captain Thiago Silva means that the home team’s hopes are hanging by a thread.
The Selecao played a great game against Colombia which had both teams really having a go at each other. Neymar and James Rodriguez could not light up the occasion as expected as they were fouled an umpteen number of times. While Rodriguez scored from the spot, the Monaco playmaker will now watch the tournament from home, as will Neymar, whose tournament was cruelly ended after a Colombian player lunged in on his back to leave the Barcelona ace with a dislocated vertebrae in the 87th minute of their quarterfinal fixture.
Willian will be the likely replacement for the injured Neymar as Brazil seek to reach their second World Cup final in home soil while Dante will take the central defensive spot in the absence of Silva, who scored the opening goal of the quarter finals. Dante will accompany David Luiz, the man who scored the winning goal for Brazil against Colombia from an unstoppable free-kick, in the back four besides Marcelo and Dani Alves.
Coach Luis Felipe Scolari’s decision to choose Fred as the number 9 for the ongoing tournament will face an awful lot of scrutiny after the final whistle on Tuesday evening. If Brazil lose this match, there are going to be big repercussions of the same on the streets. If Fred misfires, the defeat will certainly be on Scolari’s head.
Germany and Joachim Loew will be mighty pleased with the predicament of the Brazilians at this moment. Loew has a full squad to choose from and will be confident that they can claim victory against the hosts.
Although German legend Paul Brietner has called for Mesut Ozil to be axed from the first team, the possibility of that coming to pass are remote with Ozil known to be one of the favourites of the current head coach. The Germans also have some good attacking options in the form of Thomas Muller, Mario Gotze, Andre Schurrle, and Miroslav Klose.
They have a fantastic midfield with Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira, and Bastian Schweinsteiger pulling the strings as well as breaking down the opposition attacks. The likes of Philipp Lahm, Jerome Boateng, Hummels and Benedikt Howedes represent a very dynamic back four ahead of the brilliant Manuel Neuer at goal which makes the Germans favourites ahead of the much hyped encounter.