Colours for the game
Germany: white shirts, black shorts, white socks
Sweden: yellow shirts, blue shorts, yellow socks

The story so far
Three matches, three wins: it has been 36 years since a German national team started so well on world football’s biggest stage, causing an outbreak of FIFA World Cup fever to run unchecked across the country. Striker Miroslav Klose is in sparkling form, having scored twice against both Costa Rica and Ecuador to add to his five goals at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. At the same time, Klose’s strike partner Lukas Podolski, a contender for the Gillette Best Young Player award, is slowly running into form and scored his first goal of the tournament against Ecuador. Germany are set be at full strength against Sweden.

After the disappointment of a goalless draw T&T, Sweden improved steadily as the group stage progressed. In their final group match against England they demonstrated all their renowned battling qualities, twice coming from behind against many people’s favourites for the famous Trophy. The Scandinavians were especially threatening from dead-ball situations, and can count themselves a shade unfortunate not to have taken all three points against the English. Sweden’s attack is arguably their strongest asset with the combination of veteran Henrik Larsson and Marcus Allback, whose headed equaliser against England was the 2,000th goal in FIFA World Cup history, plus Juventus star Zlatan Ibrahimovic who is available again after recovering from a groin injury.

Past meetings
Over the years there has been relatively little to choose between the two sides. In 32 international matches to date, Germany have won on 12 occasions, drawn seven times and suffered 13 defeats. In 1958 the two countries met in the FIFA World Cup semi-finals, with the Swedes winning 3-1 in Gothenburg.

The duel
Both team’s strikers are currently in red-hot form - Klose and Podolski scoring the goals that gave Germany victory against Ecuador, while the contributions of Larsson and Allback secured a draw against England. Saturday’s result could well depend on which team keeps things tighter at the back, snuffing out the opposing forwards and laying the foundations for potentially deadly counterattacks. With so little to choose between the two sides, fans in Munich are sure to enjoy an enthralling contest.

What they’re saying
Jurgen Klinsmann, Germany coach: The players are dreaming of winning the World Cup. We’ll take it one game at a time but I can’t imagine the World Cup party being over on Saturday. We’ve worked so hard and so intensively for this moment. The team couldn’t be more motivated. We’re determined to beat Sweden.
Lars Lagerback, Sweden coach: Germany have played very well so far, although they gave away two soft goals against Costa Rica. Germany have a solid defence, and a good attack too. This will be a very difficult game for us. But if the Germans think they’re facing easier opponents than England, they’ve got another thing coming. We’re just as good as England, if not better.

Source: WCoffsite