Germany coach Joachim Low has called on Mexican referee Marco Antonio Rodriguez to crack down on "brutal" fouls in Tuesday's semi-final with hosts Brazil.
Low highlighted the Brazil v Colombia quarter-final where Neymar suffered a fractured vertebrae and Colombia's James Rodriguez was the victim of a number of nasty fouls - there were 54 fouls in total in the game, 31 committed by Brazil.
Low told a press conference: "I hope the referee will clamp down on things. That physical energy in the match against Colombia went beyond the limits in Europe. When I saw that match... in Europe, 22 players wouldn't have ended that match.
"There were brutal fouls. People blocking opponents however they could. It was really exaggerated. That's what we saw on the pitch, so I hope these really brutal and crude fouls are stopped, or we won't see players like [Lionel] Messi, [Mesut] Ozil or Neymar, and we'll just see players who go out to destroy.
"Colombia against Brazil was a real fight with numerous fouls from both sides, not just the one foul against Neymar, but many others as well.
"Players have been warned what would earn them a yellow or a red card but you saw in the Colombia match many fouls from behind which were really dangerous for the players. You have to protect the players when you're a referee."
Low has dismissed any notion that the absence of Neymar will mortally wound Brazil's hopes and said he was "awfully sorry" the Barcelona star's serious injury will keep him out.
Roy Hodgson is convinced that England will contain Andrea Pirlo much better in Manaus than they did at Euro 2012.
England slipped out of the European Championships two summers ago on penalties following a goalless draw at the quarter-final stage.
Pirlo pulled the strings for Italy throughout that contest, before converting a remarkably composed Panenka spot-kick in the shoot-out.
Hodgson is aware that England will need to get much closer to the Juventus midfielder when they open their World Cup campaign on Saturday, but believes the side he now has at his disposal is better equipped to handle that threat and provide one of their own.
He said: “How are we going to stop Pirlo? What we’re going to do first of all is we’re going to play better against Italy this time than we did in Euro 2012.
“Of course, against a tiring team and a team that was playing with Pirlo, he had a very, very good game because he’s a very, very good player.
“What are we going to do this time against Pirlo? First, we’ll play with more energy because we’ll have more energy because it will be the first game in the tournament. We’ll be even more compact than we were in that game.
“We’re going to make certain also that Italy have a lot more concern themselves with our attacking play, because one of the problems we had in that game is that we weren’t functioning well as an attacking unit. So Italy had too much of the ball and we were doing too much defending.
Martin Keown is urging England's defenders to stamp their authority on Italy danger-man Mario Balotelli on Saturday.
Balotelli scored in the shoot-out when Italy knocked England out on penalties at Euro 2012 and is likely to lead the line for the Azzurri in Manaus.
The former Manchester City striker is capable of the spectacular and Keown, who played 43 times for England, says the Three Lions cannot afford to give Balotelli an inch in their crunch World Cup opener.
"Our defenders can handle him but there is a certain way to play against Balotelli - you really have to show him who's boss early on," said Keown, who was speaking on behalf of Official England Supporter williamhill.com.
"You can't switch off for a moment because he doesn't have to do anything and he's still a threat - it doesn't bother him.
"There's a lot of disruption going on in his life but when he's on the pitch, he's in the zone.
"If Italy want to win the game, they have to play Balotelli and it's up to our central defenders to cope with him.
"If he's focused and he's happy in his football and his life, he is a special talent and Italy will be relying on him."
