“Germany and Brazil are the two most successful teams in World Cup history, so it’s funny to think that they have only met once before in the tournament. That was in the 2002 final, when Brazil claimed its fifth trophy and Ronaldo topped the all-time goal-scoring charts. It was also, incidentally, the day a certain Philipp Lahm, then 18 years old, and Bastian Schweinsteiger, 17, made it to the German youth championship final for Bayern Munich. Sitting on the bus back to Bavaria, Lahm and Schweinsteiger probably could not have imagined that 2002 would be their country’s last international tournament without them. Now, 12 years later, these twin hearts of the German team will line up on Tuesday in the semi-final against Brazil in the hopes of erasing their nation’s reputation as the eternal also rans.” New Republic