Finally at the business end of the World Cup, where a single victory will take you to the final, for Brazil there is no other option than to win, such is the demand of the public for their heroes to be victorious on home soil.
Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has already won the World Cup for the Selecao back in 2002, where they defeated Tuesday’s opponents Germany in the final, however, the Germans have not lifted the trophy since 1990, beating Argentina 1-0 and after taking charge eight years ago coach Joachim Low will be keen to finally pick up some silverware.
Scolari and Low have faced each other only once before in international competition, when the Nationalmannschaft came out on top 3-2 against Portugal in the Euro 2008 quarter finals.
Ahead of tomorrow’s World Cup semi-final we take a look at the battle of the two coaches and who may triumph.
Experience
The Brazilian has already been in charge of a team heading into a tournament as hosts, taking the helm for Portugal at Euro 2004, when he took them all the way to the final but were surprisingly defeated by Greece. This time he will hope to go one better, emulating his 2002 success, and despite the 65-year-old already winning the tournament once before, it would taste so much sweeter to do so as hosts.
In contrast, Low has taken his country to every tournament possible where they have consistently performed well, reaching the latter stages, at the last World Cup losing to Spain in the semi-final before defeating Uruguay to finish third.
As Scolari has already won the tournament for the Selecao and took Portugal to a European Championship final, although Low has also performed admirably during his time with the Nationalmannschaft, ‘Big Phil’ just shades it.
Tactics
Brazil usually play in a 4-2-3-1 formation and Scolari rarely changes his attacking personnel. In the quarter-final with Colombia he did raise a few eyebrows by replacing the ever-present Dani Alves with Roma full-back Maicon in an attempt to thwart Colombia’s attacks down the left wing.
That move worked as Los Cafeteros failed to mount many dangerous moves down that side and Brazil came out on top to reach the last four.
Germany’s formation throughout this tournament has largely been 4-1-4-1, but Low made a masterful change in the quarter-final against France, switching to a 4-5-1 formation and bringing Sami Khedira into the starting line-up, sending captain Philipp Lahm to right-back.
Winning 1-0 they restricted many of France’s dangerous players as Les Blues failed to really hurt them and could not get any rhythm to their game, something Low would have worked on.
Both coaches faced the in-form teams of the tournament in Colombia and France, and although both made changes to their teams, Low edges this battle as his team were the more convincingly and always looked in control, unlike the Selecao against Colombia.
Conclusion
Overall, it is too close to call. Low and Scolari are both master tacticians who have performed well as national team coaches, and although at this tournament neither team have been at their best, have still reached the latter stages which speaks volumes.
This semi-final has all the makings to live up to the mouth-watering fixture that it appears on paper, and it will be the team and coach who rises above their respective pressures that will progress.
