Germany out to down Neymar-less Brazil as titans clash tonight

Four weeks after the World Cup kicked off, four of thirty-two teams are left - Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, and Argentina. By the previous stage of the tournament itself, the eight teams remaining were all those who had topped their groups.
For German fans, the upcoming semifinal against Brazil may be their most critical match of the tournament yet. The fixture is not just in their way to a record eighth World Cup final but it is against their bête noire, Brazil, who already have the home court advantage. In 21 meetings between the two footballing superpowers, Germany has won a mere four times against Brazil and drawn five times. Brazil has claimed the remaining dozen victories, scoring 39 goals against the Germans and conceding 24.
 The only time the two sides met in the World Cup was in 2002, when Brazil won comfortably with 2:0 scoreline. In fact, Germany has never beaten Brazil in a tournament - not the World Cup (2002) nor the Confederations Cup (1999, 2005).
Germany's last victory against Brazil, in a 2011 friendly, came after an 18-year wait. It came, as did all other German victories against Brazil, on German soil; the boys from Brazil have not been encumbered by any such geographical limitation and have defeated Germany on their own soil (5/12) as much as anywhere else (Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Japan).
 In a sea of depressing statistics, Germany can take solace in a couple of things. The first is that Brazil seem not to be performing at their highest level, drawing with Mexico in the group stages, escaping with Loki's own luck past Chile in the second round, and struggling past Colombia in the quarterfinals. Germany itself struggled a bit with Ghana in the group stage but otherwise had little trouble with either Algeria or France in the elimination rounds. However, teams of the calibre of either Brazil or Germany can ramp up their game at the drop of a hat and spectators may be in for a scintillating semifinal.
Second, Brazil's star player, Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, has injured his vertebra in the last match and will be missing the rest of the World Cup. Neymar is an important fixture in the Brazilian team despite their deep bench strength.
 By contrast, Germany has seen its scoring opportunities and gameplay divided fairly evenly between Thomas Müller, Mesut Özil  and Toni Kroos.
Of course, history is not everything or FIFA might as well invite only former champions to compete. If Germany were to manage to move past Brazil and go into the World Cup finals, it would meet the winner of the second semifinal between Argentina and the Netherlands.