Germany take on the hosts on Tuesday afternoon (Brazilian time) in Belo Horizonte for a place in Sunday's World Cup final.

On paper it's a mouthwatering tie. The record winners against the highest ranked team left in Brazil. They have eight World Cups between them and both are 90 minutes away from having the chance to add another.

Brazil have not won the crown since 2002, while the Germans have to go back 24 years and the final days of the West Germany team for their most recent title.

Their only previous meeting in the World Cup knockouts was the final during Brazil's last victorious campaign a dozen years ago in Yokohama.

The game was decided by a second-half brace from Ronaldo and the only surviving member from either country's 23 man squad is Germany striker Miroslav Klose.
 
He started that game and, while likely to be on the bench in Belo Horizonte, Germany's record scorer needs just one goal to eclipse Ronaldo as the top goal-scorer in World Cup Final history.

We should see goals. Germany scored four in their opener and won each of the last three games by the odd goal despite dominating possession and clear-cut chances. Brazil have also scored 10 in their five matches and both teams have created more chances per game than the average of 13.4.

The statistics also hint that Germany will dominate possession while Brazil will give away free kicks.

Die Mannschaft lead passes at the tournament having played nearly 3,000 already, over 1,000 more than their opponents and double the average. Brazil, meanwhile, lead the tournament in fouls conceded (97) and yellow cards accrued (10), both getting on for double the average.

The biggest talking point is Neymar's absence. Brazil's talisman has been their best player but a broken vertebra sustained in the Colombia match has ended his World Cup.

Reaction here has ranged from racist rage at Juan Zuniga for the challenge, shame at the over-reliance on a single player and national mourning at the death of their hexa dream to calls for the remaining players to pull together and do it for their absent star.

How Brazil lineup will be fascinating and might hint at how realistic they see their chances against this uber-efficient German outfit.

The least attacking option is for Luiz Gustavo to return from suspension and join Paulinho and Fernandinho in a midfield that could soon earn Brazil's first red card of the tournament. This would push Oscar and Hulk further up but would still be too robust for most Brazilians' tastes.

The more likely option is the introduction of Willian to play wide and Oscar switching into the center spot that he occupied for the Confederations Cup last summer.

If Willian can't shake off injury then his place could go to his Chelsea clubmate Ramires, who would also free up Oscar to show his undoubted ability.

There are more leftfield options for Scolari to assess but as exciting as winger Bernard or the almost unclassifiable Hernanes are, they would be seen as more of a risk and quite uncharacteristic for a functional team that has been set up sacrificing other player's talents in order to support Neymar.

A bigger loss for Brazil might be that of captain Thiago Silva. The central defender scored the opener against Colombia before a needless booking ruled him out of the semifinal. A ready made replacement is there in the form of Dante but he is not the equal of the captain nor the calming presence needed next to the erratic David Luiz.

Brazil's injury and suspension woes slightly favor the Germans but a rabid Belo Horizonte crowd and a team that feel everything is going against them could get the reaction and the result that this World Cup deserves.