What a match! 3:2 win sees Germany progress to semi-finals

Winner by a nose: Per Mertesacker and his defensive colleagues proved too tough a nut to crack for football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United.
First Team
Friday, 20.06.2008 / 14:50

What a game of football, and what an impressive performance by the German national team. With a stunning 3:2 (2:1) win over the highly fancied Portuguese, Germany booked their European Championship semi-final spot.

What a game of football, and what an impressive performance by the German national team. With a stunning 3:2 (2:1) win over the highly fancied Portuguese, Germany booked their European Championship semi-final spot. Three of the 14 heroes on the night were representatives of Werder Bremen. On the Portuguese side, Green-White striker Hugo Almeida was left watching the game from the bench.

 

Werder’s Torsten Frings, who had been a vitally important member of Germany’s midfield, was forced to pull out of the tie with a broken rib. Per Mertesacker is an unquestioned first choice selection at the heart of the German defence but last night, the lofty centre half was guilty of being caught out of position on occasion. On the whole though, the defensive boss was again solid and master of all things aerial, often intercepting with head, knee or chest at just the right moment.

 

From the 73rd minute, Tim Borowski was finally able to make a telling appearance at the tournament. He came on to replace Thomas Hitzlsperger with the task of stabilising the midfield and holding the ball to allow for some relief of the defence. Ten minutes before the end, Clemens Fritz was introduced to replace the extremely impressive Bastian Schweinsteiger.

 

Prior to the game, there had been some bad news for the German eleven as it became clear that Torsten Frings would not be fit enough to play: “It was just too big a risk to take,” explained team manager Oliver Bierhoff on the decision to leave out Frings. Even with such a vital element missing from the team though, Schweinsteiger, Klose and team captain Michael Ballack got the goals to ensure Germany would reach the semi-finals, where they will face the winner of tonight’s clash between Croatia, with Ivan Klasnic, and Turkey.

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