France Vs Germany World Cup 2014 Preview: Will the German Blitzkrieg Come to an End?

The Maracana stadium at Rio De Janeiro, Brazil will be lit up when the two European giants France and Germany will battle it out to face the winner of Brazil Vs Colombia in FIFA World Cup 2014.

Both the teams have been playing quite well in this FIFA World Cup, so far. There is hardly anything which separates the two. If there are no mercurial and divine performances from any players of both the sides, we can expect a nail biting penalty shootouts.

France has scored 8 goals so far against Germany’s 9 goals. Both teams have scored a goal in every 7 attempts approximately but France has scored more frequently than the Germans comparatively. While the French have scored a goal in every 36 minutes; the Germans have taken 43 minutes.

What looks like a worrying factor for the Die MannSchaft in this world cup is their defense. They had left a lot of open spaces to maneuver for their rival teams when they were counter-attacking in the dying phases of the match. These errors were pretty much evident in their last two matches against Algeria and Ghana.

If their defense cracks up the French have enough arsenal in their team to make the men in white count. For the Les Blues, the run of the short and sturdy, Mathieu Valbuena has been the most amazing to watch out for especially against Switzerland.

The French have a strong mid-field which can easily overpower the German defense.  The Germans will miss Shkodran Mustafi’s presence in this match. The French center led by Paul Pogba, Blaise Matuidi and Yohan Cabaye will be a force to reckon with. The French are swift with the ball and they make long passes moving the game forward. The Germans have a problem against pace as it was quite evident against Algeria especially Pert Mertesacker.

The Germans will remain vulnerable to long crosses and counter-attacks especially their right and left line of defense since Philipp Lahm has moved to the center.

The Deutschland camp has an alien enemy- viral flu. Seven German players are down including Mats Hummels and Thomas Mueller.

The French are known to defeat big teams in big tournaments. They eliminated Brazil in 1998 and 2006. The Germans always start on a high note but they can’t cash in when it is required. Keeping these in mind, France has the edge over Germany but it will be too soon to write off the German blitzkrieg

France (Possible, 4-2-1-3): Lloris; Debuchy, Varane, Sakho, Evra; Matuidi, Cabaye; Pogba; Valbuena, Benzema, Griezman.

Germany (Possible, 4-3-3): Neuer; Hummels, Boateng, Mertesacker, Howedes; Schweinsteiger, Lahm, Kroos; Özil, Müller, Götze.

Referee: Nestor Pitana (Argentina)

-Sayan Ganguly and Sumanth Avian

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