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No, there would be no bailout for the Greeks at the hands of the Germans this time. Any hope Greece had for a repeat of 2004 was thwarted by a totally dominating Germany at a game which rained goals in Gdansk. Deutschland cruised through to the quarterfinals destroying the Greeks 4 – 2 in the highest scoring game in the finals so far. Joachim Low’s Mannshaft came in with some major changes to step up their attacking ante against a defence-minded Greece, showing that they would rather take out the thorn with a thorn itself. Reglars Lukas Podolski, Thomas Muller and Mario Gomez sat out, with Andre Shurrle, Marcus Reus and Miroslav Klose taking their place. Low looked like he wanted to speed and fast attcks to take out the Greece, and that worked. The Greeks on the other hand were handicapped by the absence due to suspension of their star player and playmaker Giorgos Karagounis and midfield Jose Holebas. And ad to that, they were playing a team which had not been near defeat their past 15 games. Greece handed the game on a platter, they never really were into it and Germany dominated all the 90 minutes with the flying Mesut Ozil and his passes being the centerpiece
The game started on an even note, but soon Germany found their footing and held it till the final whistle smashing in four goals, one in the first half and three in the second half. The first goal came from Philipp Lahm in the 39th minute and was the best of Germany’s goals. Latching on to a Mesut Ozil pass from far outside, the German captain ran inside and sent a swerving shot into the Greek goal. Greece equalized soon after the start of the second half when Giorgos Samaras beat Jerome Boateng to a Dimitris Salpingidis cross, squeezing the ball in past Manuel Neuer. This raised doubts of another Greek renissance a-la 2004, but all those doubts were quickly laid to rest by the Germans as just 6 minutes later Sami Khedira put the Germans in front again. Boateng made amends for his earlier mistake passing in a high cross to Khedira, who thundered in a volly past Michalis Sifakis. It was Germany all the way now, in the driving seat and traffic control center. The it was Miroslav Klose’s turn, jumping ahead of Kyriakos Papadopoulos to head in the third in the 68th minute, another 7 minutes later. Again after another 6 minutes, Marco Reus made it four for Germany when he thrashed in a rebound that came off Sifakis hands. Greece may have been down, but they were not out yet. Boateng was the reason for the second Greek goal as well, when he handled a ball in their Penalty area. Dimitris Salpingidis scored from the spot, making it 4 – 2. Greece was out of the tournament for good, but they can’t blame anyone but themselves for the Germans making merry at their goalfront, though the two goals scored against such a side is somewhat of a consolation.
The Germans never even doubted their victory, what with 67% posession and 24 shots at goal against 9 of the Greeks. Their confidence must be nearing “near-invincibilty” levels right now, though that can be dangerous for their own good. They seem to brush aside anything that is thrown at them, seemingly unsure about themselves only once, in these finals, during the game against Denmark. But that too, was only too slight a doubt, nigh a shadow. If they continue this steamrolling, they might be sure to go all the way. But, it seems like complacency is slowly settling in for the Germans, maybe becuase of their air of near-invincibility. Greece are very well known to wait patiently and pounce to exploit weaknesses when they see them, and both of their goals yesterday were born that way, through Germany’s slip ups. They cannot afford to play like this in the future. Greece had a good run, but that had to come to an end. They put a lot of onus on their defence, but they have only the breakdowns of their defence to blame, which enabled the Germans to score three goals in thirteen minutes. Germany now waits to play the winners of the France/Spain game, the winners who might go all the way!
