‘Reborn’ Brazil praised by Kroos
THEY ARE TWO GRADES BETTER NOW
Toni Kroos rates Brazil “two grades” higher than when Germany hammered the Selecao 7-1 at the 2014 World Cup. Kroos scored twice in the Belo Horizonte semifinal at Brazil 2014 when Germany blitzed the hosts, who were missing superstar forward Neymar, with five goals in a dramatic opening 30 minutes of what became the heaviest home defeat in Brazil’s history.
Ahead of the teams’ meeting tomorrow, Germany midfielder Kroos is not expecting a repeat: “When I look at the current team in comparison to 2014, they are two grades better.
“They have really good people, my (Real Madrid) team-mate Casemiro is doing well – they have come together well.
“Brazil are definitely one of the World Cup favourites.”
Germany face Brazil at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium after the Selecao beat Russia 3-0 in Moscow on Friday, with Neymar again sidelined by injury.
Second-half goals by Miranda, Paulinho and a Philippe Countinho penalty sealed the win at the Luzhniki Stadium, which hosts the World Cup final on July 15.
The Germans warmed up with a 1-1 draw against Spain in Duesseldorf to extend their unbeaten run to 22 matches.
Rodrigo Moreno’s goal after just six minutes was cancelled out by Thomas Mueller’s superb firsthalf strike on Friday.
With one eye on their World Cup defence, Joachim Loew consoled himself with the “very, very important lessons” Germany learnt, but his senior stars were unhappy.
Centre-back Jerome Boeteng said “everything” was wrong with the opening 20 minutes when Andres Iniesta gave a masterclass as Spain dominated.
“Our pressing didn’t work, then they played cat-and-mouse with us,” Boateng fumed.
“We wanted to play better from the back, use our chances, pass well, not lose the ball so fast.
“Our counter-attacking game must be better, we were hit three or four times on the counter, you can’t have that.
“It’s not all bad, but we have a lot of work to do and we must come together as a team.”
Kroos agreed: “In the first 20 minutes we were just chasing after them.”
Loew expects to make five changes against Brazil.
Stars Thomas Mueller and Mesut Ozil have been released, as was previously arranged, to give them a break. – AFP