Germany Squad Report: A semifinal years in the making

The German national team left Campo Bahia early Monday morning, travelling to Belo Horizonte where they trained in the afternoon.

Today they’ll face Brazil in a semifinal for which the team has been preparing for years. It’s not a surprise that a national team which went to the lengths of constructing their own accommodations in Brazil would also rely on technology and detailed analysis to help prepare for their opponents.

In a press conference Monday, coach Jogi Loew let slip how the team studied France before shuffling Philipp Lahm out of midfield to his familiar spot in right back:

"By analyzing France, we saw they are very compact in the center. That's why we thought to put Lahm on the right side, because we knew we'd have to come more over the wings."

The team has no doubt spent the last few days studying Brazil in detail, even with the ostensibly beneficial wildcard of the dual absences of Thiago Silva and Neymar. Keep an eye on that German starting XI—it will tell you as much about Germany’s assessment of Brazil’s weaknesses as it will about Die Mannschaft.

Former national team star Oliver Bierhoff told EPSNFC’s Rafael Honigstein how the team has used in-house mobile apps to pick apart Scolari’s team:

The data can be filtered so quickly that we will have the key scenes from the new attacker who will come in place for Neymar, for example, instantly. We can give the defenders two or three meaningful clues. We have found that this tool works really well because it's visual and intuitive.

It’s perhaps understandable that with this incredibly precise preparation, Bierhoff has had to remind players “It's a game -- it's sport.” Hopefully Tuesday night’s semi-final will indeed produce something resembling football.

Fixtures/Results

Group G — June 16 — Germany 4-0 Portugal

Group G — June 22 — Germany 2-2 Ghana

Group G — June 26 — United States 0-1 Germany

Round of 16 — June 30 — Germany 2-1  Algeria aet.

Quarterfinal — July 4 — France 0-1 Germany

Semifinal — July 8 — Brazil vs. Germany

Squad News/Rumors/Injury Report

It appears all members of the team who had been suffering from flu-like symptoms have fully recovered.

Five Quick Notes

1. Loew sounded a warning to the referee not to permit the same kind of fouls witnessed in Brazil’s quarterfinal against Colombia.

2. Rafa Honigstein on how Germany must fulfil the promise of the post-2000 golden generation this tournament.

3. The New Republic weighs in on the big semi-final today, because why not?

4. Bayern defender Dante the ace in the pack for Brazil against familiar German side, writes Henry Winter.

5. Jack Lang on how Neymar’s absence might fuel Brazil’s underdog spirit.