'The Final Before The Final' - - 77th-minute Strike from Maicon Led Brazil Cruised in to Semi Finals of U-20 WC Defeating European Champion Germany

Brazil needed two goals from substitute Maicon as they came from behind to beat Germany 2-1 in their quarter-final match in Cairo. The 77th-minute replacement for Boquita grabbed his first goals of the tournament as A Seleção progressed to the last four.

In a match between the European champions and the South American champions which some had described as 'the final before the final', both teams had chances to win the game in the opening 90 minutes, although it was Germany who asked the majority of the questions. Semih Aydilek, suspended for the Round of 16 match against Nigeria, fired a tame shot at Rafael when presented with a one-on-one opportunity inside the opening ten minutes and Lars Bender also fired a shot just wide of the post from the edge of the box.

The best chance of the half came just before the half-time whistle when Aydilek's cut back found Richard Sukuta-Pasu lurking in the box, but he should have done a lot better as he fired the ball tamely into Rafael's hands. The same could be said of Alex Teixeira, who simply passed to Ron-Robert Zieler when he was bearing down on goal.

The game opened up in the second half and once again Sukuta-Pasu spurned a golden opportunity to make it 1-0, getting the ball tangled in his feet in the penalty area with just the keeper to beat. Giuliano's overhead kick was comfortable for Zieler, but the German keeper did not feel as comfortable when Douglas Costa's drive from the edge of the box went just wide.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 73rd minute when Aydilek put in a perfect cross for Lewis Holtby, who headed the ball into the net while under pressure from two Brazilian defenders. However, despite the late goal, Brazil refused to lie down. Alex Teixeira had a deflected shot that went just wide and then, with just two minutes to go, the equaliser came.

Alex Teixeira slipped a delightful ball through to Maicon and his right-footed finish beat Zieler at his near post. There was still time for Douglas Costa to rattle the bar in the final minute of added time, but an additional 30 minutes was needed to separate the sides. With just 45 seconds of the first period of extra time gone, a long ball from the back was left by Lars Bender, who failed to notice Maicon lurking beside him.

The Fluminense forward finished beautifully and despite a spell of German pressure, it turned out to be the winning goal. Brazil now face the winners of the Costa Rica-UAE game in the semi-finals and will play two more games in Cairo before they head for home.