Germany's young guns proved they are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with as they turned on the style to beat Brazil 3-2 here on Wednesday with rising star Mario Goetze in dazzling form.
This is the first time Germany have beaten Brazil for 18 years and only the fourth time the hosts have beaten the South American giants in 21 meetings.
After a goalless first 45 minutes, a second-half penalty by Bayern Munich's Bastian Schweinsteiger and a super individual effort from Goetze put the hosts ahead before Brazil's Robinho converted a penalty on 71 minutes.
The Germans made sure of victory when Bayer Leverkusen's Andre Shuerrle came off the bench to score the German's third on 80 minutes while Brazil's Neymar scored his side's second in the 92nd minute.
This was the first time the two teams have met since 2003 and with the game at Stuttgart's Mercedes-Benz-Arena being televised in 190 countries, it lived up to it's billing as the clash of two of football's biggest names.
This was the battle of the outrageously talented 19-year-old stars: Goetze against the spikey-haired Neymar and the German over-shadowed the silky-skilled South American.
After a lively first-half the game exploded into life after the break.
Germany coach Joachim Loew made good his promise to make plenty of changes to look at players ahead of forthcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers with Austria and Turkey.
Veteran striker Miroslav Klose, now with Lazio, came on to win his 110th cap for Bayern's Mario Gomez while Schuerrle was swapped for Cologne's Lukas Podolski.
It was AC Milan's Pato who made the first impact when his chip beat Neuer, but went just centimetres wide of the post with barely a few minutes gone of the second half.
When the goal finally came it was thanks to sheer German perseverance.
Klose produced a deft piece of work to pull back the ball back, Goetze sprinted into the penalty area and in the melee Brazil captain Lucio brought down Bayern Munich's Toni Kroos in the area.
Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot and Schweinsteiger made no mistake with the kick on 61 minutes.
Germany could have had another penalty just two minutes later when AC Milan defender Thiago Silva placed the ball on the floor with his arm after yet another Goetze attack.
It hardly mattered as Goetze scored the second goal after a pass from Kroos split the Brazil defence in two and 'Goetzinho' -- as he has been dubbed by his Dortmund team-mates -- rounded Silva and fired home on 67 minutes.
Brazil pulled a goal back when Germany captain Philipp Lahm took out Dani Alves while trying to play the ball and Robinho sent Neuer the wrong way with the penalty on 71 minutes.
Germany sealed their first win over Brazil since 1993 when Schweinsteiger won the ball on the edge of the penalty area and pulled his pass back for Schuerrle to score the Germans' third.
Neymar grabbed a consolation goal in time added on but the night belonged to Germany.
Source: AFP
