Two nations chasing World Cup glory will do battle today in a match between Germany and Portugal. The 2014 World Cup group-stage match scheduled for 12 p.m. ET will be held at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador and can be live streamed here free. A free Spanish language stream of the match can be found here. Free radio coverage can be found here. Additional TV coverage can be found on ESPN and ESPN Deportes.
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All eyes are on the world's greatest player, Cristiano Ronaldo. Especially the eyes of German head coach Joachim Loew. The tactician, however, believes he has the recipe to limit the impact of the Real Madrid star.
"How can I keep Ronaldo at bay? Well, Jerome Boateng has shown he can do it," referring back to a fine performance by the former Manchester City player in a 1-0 victory for Germany against Portugal at Euro 2012 (via the Express). "You have to be on alert when playing him. When he sprints with the ball, you can never totally control him. He is a player who scores 50 goals in the league," he added.
"He has the best run paths there are. He creeps in the dead angle, gets blind passes from his teammates. You must never lose sight of him. Whoever plays him, must know where Ronaldo is, what he does all the time."
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Tactical Preview
Player to Watch: Undoubtedly, this prestigious honor belongs to Cristiano Ronaldo. The reigning FIFA Ballon d'Or winner was forced to miss a majority of Portugal's World Cup preparations due to muscle and knee problems. All reports out of the Portuguese camp, however, point to his clean bill of health. It's a requirement if Portugal is to have any chance of advancing to the Round of 16.
Germany's Projected Lineup (4-2-3-1): Neuer; Durm, Hummels, Mertesacker, Howedes; Lahm, Khedira; Podolski, Ozil, Muller; Gotze
Portugal's Projected Lineup (4-3-3): Patricio; Coentrao; Pepe, Alves, Pereira; Moutinho, Carvalho, Meireles; Ronaldo, Almeida, Varela
Note: Credit all statistics to officially licensed data from Opta Sports (via WhoScored)
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