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For a country famed for its efficiency at major tournaments, German fans have had furrowed brows for much of the World Cup buildup.

With injuries to key players like Marco Reus and fitness issues concerning a number of important stars, optimism was much lower than would be expected for one of the tournament favourites.

But ESPN and The Guardian writer Rafa Honigstein believes there seems to be signs of a lifting of the mood.

"[Jogi Low] says he has found a system and made a decision that Philippe Lahm will be in midfield and it has all sorts of positive knock on effects. You could look at the back four and say there isn't much strength there but I think Low has decided that having a real specialist in front of the back four is a better way to actually protect the German back four. I think there is a bit more optimism that they can keep Portugal at bay and use some of the other players to hurt the Portugal side," said Honigstein. 

He believes Lahm's redeployment to central midfield where he has shone for Bayern Munich this season, solves a "big problem" for Germany by giving a much more stable base at the deepest point of the engine room.

With Lahm coming in, Bastian Schweinsteiger is likely to be benched and Honigstein believes Germany will lose his "drive" and "presence".

But he could usurp Sami Khedira should the Real Madrid midfielder fail to impress. However the dropping of Schweinsteiger is an "important message" to the players according to Honigstein, with Low showing his players that only fully fit and in-form candidates will be selected.

Mesut Ozil also "cannot afford to have a bad game" with the likes of Mario Gotze, Andre Schurrle breathing down his neck and Germany being less dependent on the playmaker.

Honigstein also predicted the starting lineup that Low will deploy against Portugal.