Brazil v Germany: Joachim Loew's men seek to break home hearts as titans clash
In only the second meeting between the sides in the competition, Europeans are out to gain revenge for their loss in the 2002 final
Germany will meet tough-tackling Brazil head-on when football's titans clash in their World Cup semi-final with the host nation desperate to win the title for injured superstar Neymar.
Joachim Loew's Germany want to avenge their 2002 final loss by knocking the hosts out in Belo Horizonte and reaching Sunday's final in Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil are forced into a reshuffle without playmaker Neymar and suspended captain Thiago Silva as they look to realise dreams of a sixth title on the home soil of the Maracana.
Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, with his reputation on the line, has vowed to win the World Cup. Known as "Felipao" or "Big Phil", depending on which of the many countries he has been working in, Scolari managed the Brazil side who won the World Cup for a record fifth time in Japan in 2002.
If he succeeds he will become only the second coach, after Italy's Vittorio Pozzo (1934 and 1938), to win two World Cups.
But without Neymar as he goes into a semi-final against Germany, Scolari knows his nation, still traumatised by their defeat to Uruguay in the 1950 tournament they hosted, will not tolerate an upset.