It goes without saying that this has been a rather interesting Euro 2016 for Germany.
Die Mannschaft, who are presently the reigning World Cup champions, are seeking to make it an unprecedented fourth Euro title this summer in France. And with Spain out of the way, Joachim Löw's men now have a golden opportunity to make history.
That is, provided that they can find a way past a host side gunning for revenge and the winner of the Wales versus Portugal tie. Unfortunately for Germany, an already tough task has been made even more daunting due to the absence of at least three key players for Thursday's match: Mats Hummels, Sami Khedira, and Mario Gomez. In addition, captain Bastian Schweinsteiger is in serious doubt due to picking up another injury.
Löw has some major selection concerns on his hands as Mats Hummels misses out due to suspension
Juventus midfielder Sami Khedira suffered an injury during Germany's win over Italy in the quarter-finals
To compound matters, striker Mario Gomez, who has been in solid form so far at Euro 2016 is also out as a result of injury...
...and skipper Bastian Schweinsteiger looks likely to be joining his colleagues on the sidelines as well
Meanwhile, France - at least so far - have no injuries or suspensions ahead of this game. So do Germany have any chance at defeating the hosts en route to the final?
Perhaps. And here are some reasons why (besides Manuel Neuer arguably being the best-shot stopper in the world):
1. The historical advantage
Thursday will be the fifth time Germany and France face off, but the first in a European competition, and to date, Les Bleus have only beaten die Mannschaft once. Their last meeting, at the 2014 World Cup ended as a 1-0 victory for Germany, and the last time France came out on top was during the 1958 World Cup, when they thrashed them 6-3 in the third-place match.
Furthermore, this summer's hosts have never kept a clean sheet in any of their prior clashes with the three-time Euro winners. Scoring against die Mannschaft has also been a long-standing frustration for Les Bleus. How long exactly? Well, last time they managed to find the back of the net was in at the 1982 World Cup, when Alain Giresse netted France's third in the 98th minute during the semi-finals.
Unfortunately, however, it was not enough as Germany staged a late comeback to force the match to spot-kicks and dumped them out of the competition.
2. France's weak links
France's attack, featuring the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Dimitri Payet, and target man Olivier Giroud, is among the strongest so far in this competition. Didier Deschamps's men will be coming into this match having scored a tournament-high 11 goals, and Griezmann has been directly involved in six of them.
Their defense, however, is another story entirely. Although they predictably overpowered minnows Iceland to book their spot at this juncture, the fact that they conceded two goals against the debutants will be a major source of concern. Germany so far have conceded just once (against Italy), whilst France have shipped four goals (one against Romania and Ireland each plus the two versus Iceland).
Les Bleus, of course, were not helped by the injury and suspension crisis that hit the national team even before this tournament kicked off. Raphaël Varane, Jérémy Mathieu, Kurt Zouma, Mamadou Sakho, and Aymeric Laporteare all options that Deschamps could have relied on had things proceeded as planned.
Despite Patrice Evra and Bacary Sagna being solid defenders, their advancing years, coupled with the lack of overall pace of Adil Rami and Laurent Koscielny could leave them very vulnerable to Germany's attack if the likes of Toni Kroos, Mesut Özil, and Thomas Müller are having a good day at the office.
3. Home pitch disadvantage??
As Germany are hoping to end their 20 year wait for a Euro title, France will be hoping to avoid a hoodoo that has struck Euro hosts since 1984.
Les Bleus were the last side to successfully win the Euro trophy on home soil. That was 32 years ago. Here are some of the teams who have tried to emulate this and failed: West Germany (1988), Sweden (1992), England (1996), the Netherlands & Belgium (2000), Portugal (2004). That's not including Austria & Switzerland as well as Poland & Ukraine (2008 and 2012).
Realistically, only West Germany, England, the Netherlands, Portugal - and most surprising, Sweden - had any shot at lifting the title as all those teams made it out of the group stages. France, as hosts, have been under the microscope since the tournament kicked off last month, and naturally will have even more pressure on them the further they go in the competition.
So, there we have it: the glare of the spotlight, some questions in defense, and history being on Germany's side. Will that be enough, however, for die Mannschaft to frustrate Les Bleus for yet another time this Thursday?
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