Germany vs Brazil: A lot expected from a friendly

Germany tonight take on Brazil in a high profile international friendly at the newly rebuild Mercedes Benz Arena in Stuttgart infront of a sellout crowd of 54,000 spectators.



Expectations of Loew and his boys are high. Germany are now amongst the big boys again after last years performances in the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the domination of their qualifying group for Euro2012. German fans expect them to beat Brazil, who have had a poor Copa America a few weeks ago, as the Selecao is themselves in a finding phase moving forward towards the home World Cup in 2014.



Most eyes in the German team will be on 19 year old sensation Mario Goetze, whom Franz Beckenbauer over the weekend described as the new German Messi. Added pressure on young Goetze who has had a sensational rise at champions Borussia Dortmund.



Coach Joachim Loew said at yesterday's pre-match press conference, "Mario will start. He is a player who brings a lot to the game, who finds solutions on the pitch. He has an intuition when he has the ball and also when he doesn't."



"Mario has a good chance to show what he can do from the start, especially with Mesut Ozil not here," Loew added.



Germany will want to put the record straight as they haven't won against Brazil since a 2-1 win in Cologne in 1993. Their record against Brazil in 20 matches is poor with three wins, five draws and 12 losses.



Brazil coach Mano Menezes meanwhile has a task not many would like to have at the moment. Coaching Brazil going forward towards the 2014 FIFA World Cup at home with anything but the title a disappointment. The quarterfinal exit at las month's Copa America will surely not have held. It will be interesting to see if Mano Menezes keeps his job over the next three years.



Coach Mano Menezes said ahead of the game, "We are going to start a new phase. It's a friendly match, but it's also a high level match against Germany in Germany."



"We are a young team and our players now have an important tournament under their belts," Mano Menezes added.



The match is set for a 20.45 CET kick-off.