Euro 2008 - Quarterfinals: Germany's Schweinsteiger Knocks Out Portugal
June 19th 2008 23:30
It all came down to the midfield and set-pieces. In a great collective performance, Germany's midfielders completely eclipsed the Portuguese wingers and playmaker while they – the Germans – didn't waste their opportunities on free-kicks.
Germany brought four changes to their starting eleven. In defense, Arne Friedrich started his second game in a row at right back, stealing Marcell Jansen's place. In midfield Simon Rolfes replaced Torsten Frings who has a broken rib, Bastian Schweinsteiger replaced Clemens Fritz on the right wing in order to bring a more offensive punch to the midfield while Thomas Hitzlesperger took Lukas Podolski's place on the left. Up front, the disappointing Mario Gómez was left on the bench in order to reunite Podolski with Miroslav Klose. The strikers had had a great run together in 2006, and Podolski's versatility could be used to clog up the midfield with five men instead of four. Portugal, on the other hand, stuck to the the same squad that defeated both Turkey and the Czech Republic since no reservist had impressed Scolari in their loss to Switzerland.
From the get-go, the Germans' game plan was obvious – either isolate Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo from the play and/or deny them space once they got the ball. For much of the opening minutes, the ball was stuck in Simão's side as he was unable to find Deco in the middle, consequently cutting off the connection to Ronaldo. The latter touched the ball only twice in the first 15 minutes with four players in white shirt immediately surrounding him. The result was a Portuguese team that couldn't get anything going in the middle of park except for some deep runs by holding midfielder João Moutinho. You know there's a problem when the most dangerous players on your team are the defensive midfielder and the right back Bosingwa.
With Portugal going nowhere in the opening stages, it was Germany who scored first at the 22nd minute after a nice passing sequence between Lahm, Podolski, and Ballack. The Chelsea midfielder returned the ball to the striker/midfielder who flew down the left wing, pushed Bosingwa off of him, and delivered a superb low cross to the near post for Schweinsteiger to finish. Four minutes later, it was Schweinsteiger who set up Miroslav Klose on a free-kick. The striker was completely unmarked on the play and struck a nice header into Ricardo's net. With a two-goal lead, Germany started to relax a bit while the Portuguese midfielders finally started to get their feet moving. Five minutes before half-time, Cristiano Ronaldo received the ball after a second of hesitation on Mertesacker's part who didn't know whether to intercept the ball or to stay on the superstar. The winger fired a shot at Lehmann who did well to block the angles, but his rebound was quickly gobbled up by Nuno Gomes who didn't miss his chance despite Metzelder's attempt to clear the ball with a toe-poke. The first half ended at 2-1 with Ronaldo coming close to equalize the mark at the 45th minute. Portugal was still very much in the game at half-time and Germany had to be careful in the second period.
Portugal amplified their attacks at the beginning of the second half with their wingers flying down the flanks in an effort to stretch the German defense. The result was two yellow cards for Germany as both Friedrich and Lahm got booked for late tackles. At the 57th minute, Pepe came close on a corner-kick but his header went straight to the stands. Four minutes later, Michael Ballack puts the score at 3-1 with a nice header off a Schweinsteiger free-kick. It was an exact copy of their second goal as Ballack was able to break free from Ferreira's coverage to strike the ball past Ricardo. At the 67th minute, Scolari replaced Nuno Gomes by Nani and the impact was immediate. The Germans didn't know how to deal with the winger's speed as he was too fast for them to put in a tackle. With this problematic in mind, Hans-Dieter Flick proceeded to his first substitution of the game replacing Hitzlsperger by Tim Borowski in order to bring fresh legs to the midfield. Scolari made his third change of the night at the same time (his first substitution was used in the first half as Meireless replaced an injured Moutinho) replacing defensive midfielder Petit by striker Helder Postiga. With this move Portugal were going for broke with an all-out attack so Flick freshened up his midfield some more at the 83rd minute when Clemens Fritz replaced Schweinsteiger. With the last ten minutes slowly passing by, it looked like Portugal weren't going to come back from their two-goal deficit. But at the 87th minute, the two substitutes – Nani and Postiga - combined their efforts to bring the score at 3-2. Surrounded by three German players, Nani managed to get a cross to the penalty spot where Postiga delivered a superb header to beat Lehmann. The comeback was still possible but Flick wasn't going to let it happen. With Portugal throwing all their players to the attack, Flick replaced striker Klose by defender Marcell Jansen at the 89th minute. Germany would thus be defending during extra-time with five defenders and five midfielders if you count Podolski. In four minutes of extra-time, Portugal couldn't find a breach in Germany's double-curtain and are now going home while Germany become once again favorites. Bring on the bandwagon fans.
My man of the match: Bastian Schweinsteiger. After today's performance (one goal, two assists), his red card against Croatia has been forgiven.
Honorable mentions:
- Simon Rolfes. Frings' absence wasn't noticeable simply because of this guy. He was the wall between Ballack and the German defense.
- Nani. The Manchester United winger gave life to a team that had already given up. It's too bad that his last minute shot wasn't on target.
Germany brought four changes to their starting eleven. In defense, Arne Friedrich started his second game in a row at right back, stealing Marcell Jansen's place. In midfield Simon Rolfes replaced Torsten Frings who has a broken rib, Bastian Schweinsteiger replaced Clemens Fritz on the right wing in order to bring a more offensive punch to the midfield while Thomas Hitzlesperger took Lukas Podolski's place on the left. Up front, the disappointing Mario Gómez was left on the bench in order to reunite Podolski with Miroslav Klose. The strikers had had a great run together in 2006, and Podolski's versatility could be used to clog up the midfield with five men instead of four. Portugal, on the other hand, stuck to the the same squad that defeated both Turkey and the Czech Republic since no reservist had impressed Scolari in their loss to Switzerland.
From the get-go, the Germans' game plan was obvious – either isolate Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo from the play and/or deny them space once they got the ball. For much of the opening minutes, the ball was stuck in Simão's side as he was unable to find Deco in the middle, consequently cutting off the connection to Ronaldo. The latter touched the ball only twice in the first 15 minutes with four players in white shirt immediately surrounding him. The result was a Portuguese team that couldn't get anything going in the middle of park except for some deep runs by holding midfielder João Moutinho. You know there's a problem when the most dangerous players on your team are the defensive midfielder and the right back Bosingwa.
With Portugal going nowhere in the opening stages, it was Germany who scored first at the 22nd minute after a nice passing sequence between Lahm, Podolski, and Ballack. The Chelsea midfielder returned the ball to the striker/midfielder who flew down the left wing, pushed Bosingwa off of him, and delivered a superb low cross to the near post for Schweinsteiger to finish. Four minutes later, it was Schweinsteiger who set up Miroslav Klose on a free-kick. The striker was completely unmarked on the play and struck a nice header into Ricardo's net. With a two-goal lead, Germany started to relax a bit while the Portuguese midfielders finally started to get their feet moving. Five minutes before half-time, Cristiano Ronaldo received the ball after a second of hesitation on Mertesacker's part who didn't know whether to intercept the ball or to stay on the superstar. The winger fired a shot at Lehmann who did well to block the angles, but his rebound was quickly gobbled up by Nuno Gomes who didn't miss his chance despite Metzelder's attempt to clear the ball with a toe-poke. The first half ended at 2-1 with Ronaldo coming close to equalize the mark at the 45th minute. Portugal was still very much in the game at half-time and Germany had to be careful in the second period.
Portugal amplified their attacks at the beginning of the second half with their wingers flying down the flanks in an effort to stretch the German defense. The result was two yellow cards for Germany as both Friedrich and Lahm got booked for late tackles. At the 57th minute, Pepe came close on a corner-kick but his header went straight to the stands. Four minutes later, Michael Ballack puts the score at 3-1 with a nice header off a Schweinsteiger free-kick. It was an exact copy of their second goal as Ballack was able to break free from Ferreira's coverage to strike the ball past Ricardo. At the 67th minute, Scolari replaced Nuno Gomes by Nani and the impact was immediate. The Germans didn't know how to deal with the winger's speed as he was too fast for them to put in a tackle. With this problematic in mind, Hans-Dieter Flick proceeded to his first substitution of the game replacing Hitzlsperger by Tim Borowski in order to bring fresh legs to the midfield. Scolari made his third change of the night at the same time (his first substitution was used in the first half as Meireless replaced an injured Moutinho) replacing defensive midfielder Petit by striker Helder Postiga. With this move Portugal were going for broke with an all-out attack so Flick freshened up his midfield some more at the 83rd minute when Clemens Fritz replaced Schweinsteiger. With the last ten minutes slowly passing by, it looked like Portugal weren't going to come back from their two-goal deficit. But at the 87th minute, the two substitutes – Nani and Postiga - combined their efforts to bring the score at 3-2. Surrounded by three German players, Nani managed to get a cross to the penalty spot where Postiga delivered a superb header to beat Lehmann. The comeback was still possible but Flick wasn't going to let it happen. With Portugal throwing all their players to the attack, Flick replaced striker Klose by defender Marcell Jansen at the 89th minute. Germany would thus be defending during extra-time with five defenders and five midfielders if you count Podolski. In four minutes of extra-time, Portugal couldn't find a breach in Germany's double-curtain and are now going home while Germany become once again favorites. Bring on the bandwagon fans.
My man of the match: Bastian Schweinsteiger. After today's performance (one goal, two assists), his red card against Croatia has been forgiven.
Honorable mentions:
- Simon Rolfes. Frings' absence wasn't noticeable simply because of this guy. He was the wall between Ballack and the German defense.
- Nani. The Manchester United winger gave life to a team that had already given up. It's too bad that his last minute shot wasn't on target.
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Comment by charles
FanFootball
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Comment by Ann 2
Muzikal Mafia
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Football Slate
I think the difference was that Germany actually had a game plan this time around whereas Portugal were only waiting for Cristiano Ronaldo and Deco to do something. Portugal didn't count on things being so tight in midfield.