- Hosts Brazil will be without top scorer Neymar due to injury
- David Luiz will captain Brazil in Thiago Silva's absence due to suspension
- Joachim Low has no major injury concerns in his Germany squad
Semi-final: Brazil vs Germany
Venue: Estadio Mineirao, Belo Horizonte
Kick-off: 9pm (5pm, Brazil time)
TV coverage: ITV1, from 8:30pm
Odds: Brazil 17/10, Draw 11/5, Germany 9/5
Referee: Marco Rodriguez (Mexico)
Managers:
Luiz Felipe Scolari (Brazil)
Joachim Low (Germany)
Joachim Low (Germany)
Team news: Luiz Felipe Scolari has several options to replace injured star man Neymar.
Paulinho
or Fernandinho could be asked to play a more advanced role now that
regular midfielder Luis Gustavo is back from suspension.
But the two biggest contenders to fill Neymar's position are Chelsea forward Willian or Shakhtar Donetsk's Bernard.
Neither
player has started a match for Brazil during the World Cup, but Willian
has come off the bench in all but one of the team's matches.
Bernard, a tricky, diminutive 21-year-old, has made two substitute appearances during the tournament.
Brazil
captain Thiago Silva will also miss out due to suspention and will be
replaced by Dante with David Luiz taking the captain's armband.
Germany
coach Joachim Low has no such selection problems with only Shkodran
Mustafi unavailable, yet he still does not seem to have found his
first-choice starting XI.
Philipp
Lahm moved back to right-back in the quarter-final against France with
Miroslav Klose making his first start up front, where Thomas Muller had
previously been first choice.
Mesut Ozil has struggled to deliver while Lukas Podolski no longer seems to figure in Low's plans.
Key clash: Oscar (Brazil) v Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany)
With
Neymar injured Oscar will revert to his preferred No 10 role and he
will be looking to constantly put pressure on Schweinsteiger who,
despite being one of the world’s best midfielders, will have his
questionable fitness tested by the Brazilian.