Germany will have to contend with black magic as well Brazil's
Selecao in Tuesday's World Cup semi-final as a voodoo priest plans
to curse die Mannschaft.
Brazil will be without injured superstar Neymar in Belo Horizonte,
but black magic enthusiast Helio Sillman from Rio de Janeiro says
his curse will hinder Joachim Loew's team in the semi-final.
"I'll take their top player and bind his legs so he can't run on
the pitch," said Sillman, referring to the voodoo doll of an
undisclosed German player that will be cursed in a ceremony before
the game.
In his shop "World of Orixas" in the northern neighborhood of
Madureira, Sillman carries out a ritual before each Selecao
game.
Using a a small football pitch-shaped box as his alter, he puts
inside lit candles in the colours of the opposing team and the
voodoo doll of their most important player.
Sillman's curse on James Rodriguez did not stop the Colombian star
from scoring in his team's 2-1 defeat to Brazil in Friday's
quarter-finals.
And he was powerless to prevent Selecao star Neymar from suffering
a fractured vertebrae against the Colombians that has ruled him out
of the World Cup.
But Sillman points to Brazil's results against Cameroon, Chile,
Croatia and Mexico as testimony to the influence of his
magic.
Voodoo dolls representing a player from each of the Selecao's
opponents sit in a bowl.
"Those are the four teams that Brazil have overcome," he said.
Germany's Thomas Mueller, Manuel Neuer and Mats Hummels have been
warned.