Germany vs Portugal Prediction - Will Portugal Be Able To Stop Die Mannschaft?

Next Monday, Germany and Portugal will go head-to-head at Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador, on what will be the opening match for Group G.

Germany’s performances at the World Cup preparation matches have been somewhat inconsistent. Before smashing Armenia 6-1, on match that in fact could have had a fairly different outcome if one considers that Mkhitaryan netted in the equalizer on the 69’ minute, Germany conceded two at-home draws, first against Poland and later against Cameroon. The match against the Caucasian team will also be remembered as the one that “knocked” Marco Reus out of the World Cup after he got himself injured while battling for the ball with an Armenian player.

Die Mannschaft walked through the qualification stage very easily as they finished top of their group with nine wins and one draw in ten matches. The tactical master Joachim Löw has been doing a fantastic job at the helm of the German vessel, especially since he managed to “renew” the Mannschaft, bringing in several young and very talented players into the team and refurbishing their game style completely by imposing a more possession-based style instead of their former long ball approach.

For the match against Portugal, Joachim Löw will have all of his squad at his disposal since there are no injured players in the team so far.

As for Portugal, the match against Germany will mark their fourth consecutive presence in a World Cup tournament after a long fast from 1986 to 2002. The Portuguese team are currently enjoying a good moment and will certainly face the match against the Germans with renewed optimism after the return of Cristiano Ronaldo, who was sidelined for quite some time with a complicated knee injury.

Portugal experienced some difficulties to book their ticket to the Brazilian World Cup as they finished second on their qualification group behind Russia and were forced to go head-to-head with Ibrahimovic’s Sweden on two playoff matches. The Portuguese side defeated the Nordic team, mainly thanks to moments of sheer inspiration from Ronaldo who granted the Iberian team a place at the National Teams' international competition.

For the match against Germany, the Portuguese manager Paulo Bento is not yet fully certain if he will be able to count on Fábio Coentrão, since the Real Madrid’s defender suffered an injury during a recent training session.

Germany are favourites to win the match and to finish at the top of Group G, although if Portugal manage to put up a vintage performance as they did against Sweden in Solna back in November, they might have a word to say on the clash’s final outcome.

Germany

Stats: W-3 L-0 D-2

Recent Form - WDDWW

Portugal

Stats: W-4 L-0 D-1

Recent Form - WDWWW

Possible Line-ups

Germany  (4-2-3-1) - Neuer - Lahm - Mertesacker - Boateng - Schmelzer - Khedira - Schweinsteiger - Kroos - Özil - Götze - Klose

Portugal (4-3-3) - Rui Patrício - João Pereira - Neto - Bruno Alves - F. Coentrão - Moutinho - R. Meireles - Miguel Veloso - Nani - Ronaldo - Hugo Almeida

Prediction: Germany 2 Portugal 1