That's the 1st semifinal of Euro 2008 confirmed. I guess most people would say that this semifinal pairing is unexpected given that the vanquished, Portugal and Croatia were the favourites against these two teams.
So was Germany winning unexpected ? Well, yes and no. Yes because Portugal have been playing well and Germany have not been impressive. And no because..... it's the Germans. What did you expect ?
Yet again the Germans came through in a big game and this was one where they looked rather comfortable compared to some of their famous fight-till-you-drop, last minute heroics, gut-it-out games. It helped that the Portugese had weaknesses in their defence. I mean, come on.............. two goals from free kicks in exactly the same manner ?
But I think what really swung this game was the tactics. The Germans switched to a five man midfield and this really helped them in two ways :
1. It got Mario Gomez off the field. He hasn't started the tournament well.
2. Portugal couldn't control the game in midfield the way the Croatians did against the Germans. At least the Germans had enough bodies to compete in midfield.
The German defence still doesn't look convincing but with Turkey in the semifinals, I'm betting that they'll do enough to make the final.
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