The World Cup 2014 semifinals are live with Brazil and Germany on Tuesday and the game on ESPN starts at 4 pm ET and has a live stream on WatchESPN and comes from Estádio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte as the host nation tries to stay alive and they are hoping to play Argentina or the Netherlands and Brazil will be without Neymar after his injury and Thiago Silva after his second yellow card.
Neymar has been the best player for Brazil and now he will be out after suffering a back injury in the quarterfinals match against Colombia. The knee to his back by Juan Zuniga came during a very physical game that saw over 50 fouls called and now he will be out for the rest of the tournament and that could have a major impact on Brazil winning. Germany and Brazil are now tied as the favorites in Vegas for the Cup and they are the two teams that were considered most likely to win coming into the tournament.
Argentina was mentioned as another favorite along with the Netherlands, especially after they opened their tournament with a win against the defending champions in Spain. Netherlands made it to the final last time in South Africa and now they will try and make it two in a row if they can make it here in Brazil. Argentina and Brazil are representing South America, while Germany and the Netherlands will try and fight history to become the first teams from Europe to win the Cup on S. American soil. Neymar gave his team an inspirational message following his injury and now they will have to find a way to make up for his loss as their top scorer and creator.
Silva is also one of the emotional leaders of the team and he will be forced to sit out the game against Germany after getting a second yellow card against Colombia. Germany has now been to the semifinals four straight times and this comes after they finished in third place in South Africa in 2010 and they are the top European team left in the tournament. The team has not been to the final since 2002 and the last time it was a matchup with Brazil and now this rematch will be to advance to the finals. Willian and Oscar will have to make up for the loss of Neymar and since the team is so deep they are one of the only nations that can handle an injury like this at the World Cup.
Germany has not had their "best" game yet in the knockout stage after opening with a group win against Portugal that was dominating and now that they are playing Brazil, everyone will need to step things up. Thomas Muller has been one of the leading scorers in this tournament and the team needs him to play well once again. Brazil and Germany are only meeting for the second time and it follows the finals matchup from 2002 and in this World Cup the teams have scored the same amount of goals and have conceded less than five goals overall.