How to Watch the World Cup Semifinals: Brazil vs Germany

After all the sturm and drang of the first three weeks of the World Cup where it seemed like anything could happen, the four last teams left standing are all ones that have done it before. Between Brazil, Germany, Argentina, and the Netherlands, are 10 of the 19 World Cup winners ever and 19 of the 38 teams to have ever made the World Cup championship game. By my rough calculation, that’s 50% or more either way you look at it! The only team that has never won the World Cup is the Netherlands and they’ve made the finals more times (3) than any other team to not win it.

Lucky for us, predictable does not mean unexciting. Let’s start with the first semifinal:

Brazil vs. Germany, Tuesday, July 8, 4 p.m. on ESPN

Brazil is going to need the full power of all 200 million of its citizens pulling for the team in this game because it is decidedly short-handed on the field. Brazil’s captain, Thiago Silva, will miss the match with a suspension after receiving two yellow cards in the tournament so far. The bigger, or at least more written and talked about, loss is that of Neymar, Brazil’s star midfielder. Neymar will be out for the rest of the World Cup with fractured vertebrae after being on the business end of a flying Colombian knee during Brazil’s quarterfinal game. Neymar was Brazil’s best offensive player and their team talisman, if not leader. He is a playmaking midfielder whose skill handling the ball helps Brazil earn free-kicks and keep possession. His also has four of Brazil’s 10 goals during the tournament. He’s also, like Jozy Altidore was for the United States, somewhat irreplaceable. There isn’t another player on Brazil’s roster who can do what Neymar does. How much will these absences hurt Brazil? According to Nate Silver, not that much, it simply brings them down from a decisive favorite over Germany to a slight favorite.

Germany, on the other hand, is a very deep team. They’ve been a machine during this World Cup, winning four of their five games and giving up only a single goal in their victories. Their one hiccup was against a desperate, attacking Ghana in the second game of the group stage. Germany is so deep that they have been bringing star players like Miroslav Klose, who is tied for the all-time lead in World Cup goals scored, and Bastian Schweinsteiger whose name means “pig overseer,” into games as substitutes. Germany has been impressive but not particularly exciting except when pushed to be so by a fiesty opponent. I hope, for the sake of the millions who are planning to watch this semi-final, that Brazil pushes Germany and creates an exciting game.

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To celebrate the World Cup in Brazil, Dear Sports Fan is publishing a set of posts explaining elements of soccer. We hope you enjoy posts like Why do People Like Soccer? How Does the World Cup Work? Why Do Soccer Players Dive so Much? What is a Penalty Kick in Soccer? What are Red and Yellow Cards in Soccer?, Why do World Cup Soccer Players Blame the Ball? and Reflections on the 2014 World Cup for the United States.  The 2014 World Cup in Brazil begins on June 12 and ends on July 13.