Brazil Reaches 8th World Cup Semifinal, 2nd Most All-Time

By beating Colombia 2-1 in the quarterfinals on Friday, Brazil reached the semifinals of the World Cup for the eighth time, which is the second-most appearances in the final four in the tournament's history, per ESPN Stats & Info (via ESPNFC).

Brazil will head into the semis against Germany, who reached their record 12th World Cup semifinal by defeating France 1-0 on Saturday.

The host nation is 4-0-1 in this year's tournament, after defeating Croatia and Cameroon and drawing with Mexico in the group stage, before defeating Chile in the Round of 16 and Colombia in the quarterfinals.

The semifinal berth is Brazil's first since 2002 in South Korea and Japan, which was followed by losses to France in the quarterfinals in 2006 in Germany, and to the Netherlands in the quarterfinals in 2010 in South Africa.

While they will surely have the crowd on their side, Brazil will be at a major disadvantage against Germany, as they will be without star forward Neymar, who suffered a fracture of the third vertebrae in his back during the Colombia match. Additionally, starting centerback Thiago Silva picked up his second yellow card of the tournament on Saturday, which means he'll be ineligible to play in the semifinal.