It doesn’t get much bigger than a World Cup Semi-Final between Brazil and Germany, but we can only see one winner.
People have moaned that the World Cup has lost it’s fun factor in the knock-out stages, but it was obvious that teams would be a bit more cautious with so much more to lose. Brazil battered Colombia physically in the last round, but it came back to haunt them following the tournament-ending injury for Neymar, which sees him miss out tonight.
Arguably, an even bigger loss for Brazil is the suspension of their captain, Thiago Silva from this clash. He is the man who organises the defence and although Dante from Bayern Munich, his replacement, is a decent player, he’s nowhere near the level of Silva.
The Germans have been, as they always are, ruthlessly efficient. They eased past France in the previous round without really moving through the gears. With Mats Hummels back in the heart of their defence, they look a much more solid outfit and if they score first, they will be incredibly difficult to break down.
We just feel the loss of both Neymar and Silva is too much for Brazil, and although the Germans haven’t been brilliant, they have enough players to hurt the hosts. Thomas Muller has probably been the best German player at the World Cup and for him to score at any time and for Germany to win, we are really liking the look of 10/3 with Ladbrokes