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Germany, Brazil square off in Tuesday's semifinals
By: Brian Graham - StatFox
Published: 7/8/2014  at  3:22:00 AM
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2014 WORLD CUP SOCCER

BRAZIL


vs. GERMANY


Kickoff: Tuesday, 4:00 p.m. EDT
Estadio Mineirao – Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Line:
Germany +150, Brazil +185, Tie after Regulation +230
Over/Under: 2.5 Goals (Over +150, Under -169)

Only four teams remain in the 2014 World Cup, with the first semifinal on Tuesday pitting soccer giants Brazil and Germany.

Host Brazil will be playing this match short-handed, with star forward Neymar suffering a fractured vertebra in the quarterfinal win, while team captain Thiago Silva is suspended due to picking up his second yellow card in a 2-1 victory versus Colombia that put the Selecao into the semifinal round for the first time since 2002. Germany reached its fourth straight semifinal, and 10th such appearance in the past 13 World Cups, by knocking off France 1-0. This was the third straight one-goal victory for the Germans. Brazil holds a 5-2-2 advantage in the past nine meetings between these countries, which include the Selecao's 2-0 victory over the Germans in the 2002 World Cup. However, Germany topped Brazil 3-2 when they last met in a friendly in August 2011. Although Brazil will be missing two key starters on Tuesday, they are undefeated in 41 straight matches on home soil, and manager Luiz Felipe Scolari has never lost a World Cup match while leading the Selecao.

Brazil is coming off another harder-than-expected win, as a Thiago Silva's goal seven minutes in and David Luiz's top-corner rocket off a free kick held up in a 2-1 victory. During that match, 54 fouls were committed, including a tournament-high 31 fouls by Brazil. Silva and goalkeeper Julio Cesar were both given yellow cards, with Cesar quite fortunate he didn't pick up a red card when he took out Colombian star James Rodriguez in the box that resulted in a penalty kick goal. Against Colombia, the Selecao held only a slight edge in total shots (12-11), shots on goal (6-5) and possession (51% to 49%). Brazil nearly fell to Chile to open the knockout round in a match where they committed 28 fouls and were booked for four yellow cards, but prevailed in penalty kicks when Chile's final attempt hit the post. Although the Selecao held a commanding 23-13 shot advantage (13-5 shots on goal) in that match, Chile out-possessed Brazil 51% to 49%. The Selecao will certainly miss injured Neymar, who is tied for second among all goal scorers in the World Cup with four of his team's 10 tallies. David Luiz has two goals, but no other teammate has more than one tally in the tournament, with these other four goals coming from Oscar, Fred, Fernando Luiz Roza and Thiago Silva.

Germany started off its World Cup with 4-0 victory against Portugal, but have not really played up to their capabilities since that lopsided result. After a 2-2 draw with heavy underdog Ghana, they barely topped the United States by a 1-0 result, and failed to score in regulation during a 2-1 win over Algeria in the Round of 16. A Mats Hummels header off a Toni Kroos free kick at the 12-minute mark was the club's loan goal in its 1-0 quarterfinal victory over Les Blues. That was the second goal for Hummels in the tournament, putting him second on the club behind Thomas Muller, who has four of the 10 Germany goals in this tournament. He now has nine goals in 10 career World Cup matches. Andre Schurrle, Mesut Ozil, Mario Gotze and Miroslav Klose have the other tallies for the Germans, with Klose's tally marking his 15th career World Cup goal, which ties Brazil legend Ronaldo for the all-time record. In the quarterfinal win over France, possession was split equally at 50% apiece, which marks the fifth straight match that the Germans have not lost possession. They held possession advantages of 59% versus Portugal, 54% facing Ghana and a whopping 63% possession time versus both USA and Algeria. For the tournament, they hold a 27-20 edge in corner kicks on their opponents, and in the past three contests, Germany has fired 50 total shots, with 37 going on goal (74%). The players tasked with feeding the goal-scoring stars are midfielders Kroos and Lukas Podolski, who has 47 goals in his 116 caps, but did not play in the quarterfinals. Germany has allowed a mere three goals over five matches in this tournament thanks to the stellar play of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who is the much more highly-regarded keeper in this match. The Germans have also completed 500 more successful passes than any other World Cup team and over 1,000 more than Brazil, and will need to control possession in this match to beat a more physical Selecao club.


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