Joachim Loew has virtually ruled Cacau out of tomorrow's World Cup quarter-final with Argentina in Cape Town.

The forward missed last weekend's defeat of England with an abdominal strain and has not trained since.

Loew has not entirely ruled the Bayern Munich star out of his plans but admitted this afternoon: "We have to be realistic.

"I don't think he will be able to play tomorrow."

Germany's other major injury doubt is striker Lukas Podolski, who missed training yesterday with a muscle strain.

"He has had physio today in our hotel," confirmed Loew.

"The plan is for him to take part in training this evening.

"If he fails his fitness test, we will have to come up with another solution."

The answer is likely to be either Marko Marin or Marcell Jansen as Germany look to repeat their victory over the South Americans at the same stage of the competition four years ago.

Happily, Loew had better news of young playmaker Mesut Ozil, who also missed training yesterday but only so he could have a rest after a tiring campaign.

"Last year, Ozil played in the European Under-21 championships so he has had a long season," said Loew.

"He lost energy in the weeks leading up to the tournament and then worked very hard against England, so I gave him a day off to recharge his batteries."