Preview – Germany was my pre-tournament pick to win it all. Apart from a solid and sometimes impressive performance against Poland in their opening game this German team has failed to reach nights of the team of two summers ago.
Even though German coach Joachim Löw will be able to watch today’s game from the good seats he has more to worry about than the seating arrangements.
His team has a number of doubts with the injury to Torsten Frings the most pressing concern. Without Frings the German midfield will need to be shuffled with Ballack perhaps being asked to play deeper than usual. Either way the Germans need to find and execute a plan to contain Deco.
The biggest concern to Portugal might be Germany’s threat at set pieces. Carvalho and Pepe have been strangely hesitant on some cross balls in earlier games and that might be something Germany can exploit.
I’m not going to switch horses (better to be wrong once than wrong twice!) at this stage but would willingly concede that if Germany beat Portugal today it will run counter to the form book.
Misses next match if booked:
Portugal - Jose Bosingwa, Miguel, Jorge Ribeiro, Paulo Ferreira and Fernando Meira.
Germany - Michael Ballack and Jens Lehmann.
Referee: Peter Frojdfeldt, linesmen: Stefan Wittberg, Henrik Andren (all Sweden), fourth official: Kyros Vassaras (Greece)
Match Report Portugal 2-3 Germany
If you’re looking for an example of why group form doesn’t mean very much when it gets down to the knockouts stage here was a great example. Germany overcame an indifferent start to the tournament and knocked out a Portuguese side that was favored to move into the last four.
Joachim Low overcame the loss of Torsten Frings to injury by matching Portugal’s 4-2-3-1 formation. Hitzlsperger and the thoroughly impressive Rolfes took care of the defensive midfield duties which allowed Michael Ballack to support the lone striker Miroslav Klose while playing between Schweinsteiger on the right and Podolski on the left.
The move by the German coach seemed to take Portugal by surprise as they struggled in the early going to control Ballock.
The first of the five goals came after a surging run from Podolski. He held off Bosingwa (great going forward but looks very dodgy defending) and he created enough space to slide a cross to the onrushing Schweinsteiger who had lost his marker Ferreira.
Within minutes Germany was two goals to the good when Portugal got their marking all wrong at a free kick. While Portuguese markers focused on Ballack and were then distracted by a great dummy run from Rolfes, Klose was left all alone to hit home. But even then there were few signs that the scoring had finished.
Portugal was finding it far too easy to find teammates with passes and they had lots of space to operate in. More goals just had to come and another did just before of half time. Ronaldo found space behind the German back four and although Lehmann made a good save Nuno Gomes knocked a loose ball into the net.
As the second half got underway it seemed to be only a matter of time before Portugal would equalize and perhaps even to go on and win the game. But too often the final ball into the penalty box or the shot on goal was poor.
Ultimately it was another free kick that was to be Portugal’s undoing. It was almost identical to Germany’s second goal and again the Portuguese defense was culpable in their marking… or lack of. This time the cross reached Ballack and goalkeeper Ricardo was caught in no man’s land as the ball rolled into the net.
However, it was not to be a worry free last 30 minutes for German fans (and for those of us who have picked Germany in prediction pools!!). Between while dying a thousand deaths on the bench, Scolari managed to throw on substitutes Nani and Postiga and it was the two subs that combined for the last goal of the game with three minutes left.
A massive disappointment for Portugal and Germany becomes the first team into the last four. Five goals, lots of action, some sloppy defending and some excellent entertainment. Here’s hoping that it continues.
Comment of the Day
"No17 Germany – 1m98, No13 – 1m88, Klose – 1m82, No21 – 195. I have to worry about that – and that my players are 115cm, 120cm." - Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Prediction Update
Nearly 20% of posters (too many to list) got the finishing positions of countries in group D spot on. It tightened things up at the top and Sounderfan has dropped down to second place. According to my calculations here is everyone currently with 20 points or more.The highest possible total after the group stage was 32 points.
One person who did not post his predictions on the blog but if he had he would be leading by a solid margin would be FSR anchor Carlos Machado. Carlos’ only missteps to date were switching the finishing order or Germany/ Croatia and Austria/Poland in Group B.
If he had posted his predictions he would be sitting on 28 points at the moment. Quite an impressive performance from Carlos who also took out time out to complete the Manitoba Marathon last Sunday in a little under four hours.
Questions
These two questions were posted yesterday.
1. So far, is this a better tournament than Euro 2004?
2. Without checking the statistics do you think Euro 2008 has produced more, about the same or less goals than Euro 2004?
My sense is that this is a better tournament than we saw four years ago. The pace is quicker, more teams are committed to going forward and attacking and there have been a number of more memorable performances to date.
I was surprised that there have been fewer goals in the group stage than there was in 2004. Perhaps my memory is clouded by day scarcity of goals in the knockout stage in Portugal. And who knows, there is a strong chance that goals will again be hard to come by once more in the knockout stage.
The cooler temperatures (slightly warmer temperatures in Austria – 26 goals, cooler in Switzerland –31 goals) are likely encouraging a faster pace game and rewarding the countries that are willing to go out and take the game to the opposition.
The Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Portugal, Turkey (second-half anyway), Croatia and, despite what many knee-jerk stereotype dependant critics will tell you, Italy all benefited by adopting an aggressive approach.
The “what we have we hold brigade” (France, Romania, Poland, Greece and Sweden) are all on the way home. To date only Germany of the sides who have approached the tournament with containment in mind (to be fair it may be a case with Germany that they have just misfired badly) has made it to the knockout stage.
Total Football Revisited
On day eight I posted a comment about commentators who described the Dutch style of 2008 as a total football. I suggested that you should distrust any such description. Gabriele Marcotti suggests that you go a step further and punch them in the mouth!
Germany (twice as West Germany) has won the European Championship in each of the decades since the seventies – 1972, 1980 and 1996. This is a last chance to keep the streak going.
How they qualified Germany was the first country to secure qualification through group play but finished as runners-up in Group D to the Czech Republic after drawing two and losing one of their last four games.
The Germans finished two points behind the Czech Republic but ten points ahead of the Republic of Ireland. Lucas Podolski scored nine times (five in one game against San Marino Nil).
In all Germany had twelve different scorers (plus an own goal) contributing to their total of thirty-five goals – the most by any country in the qualifying round.
The Coach The switch from World Cup boss Jurgen Klinsmann to Joachim Loew has been seamless – an improvement even. Given that the improvement came about from a willingness to experiment and to offer youth a chance means that Germany’s performances since Klinsmann moved on can be categorized under the heading of extremely impressive.
But with the improvement comes increased expectations and most German fans expect another European Championship this summer. A far cry from 2006 when the World Cup was being dreaded rather than anticipated.
Key Players Michael Ballack’s late season return to form is encouraging for Germany as an in-form and revitalized Ballack is pivotal to German hopes. The German defence looked wobbly in the early going of the 06 World Cup but matured into a solid unit.
Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen) and Christoph Metzelder (Real Madrid) will be likely be depended upon at the centre of the defence although doubts linger as to the Spanish based players fitness. Bayern full backs Philipp Lahm and Marcell Jansen enter the tournament as German’s first choice full backs.
David Odonkor will probably play the role of speedy substitute once again while Mario Gomez, Miroslav Klose and Kevin Kuranyi will rotate through the two striking positions.
Great Euro Memory With three European Championships and another twice as runner-up there are no shortage of memorable moments for German fans. However, the 3-0 destruction of the Soviet Union in 1972 can be considered special given that it ushered in a period of dominance for German football.
Runners-up to England at the 1966 World Cup and a beaten semi finalist to Italy four years later the 1972 tournament was a break through win. A Gunter Netzer inspired performance destroyed England in the first leg quarter final at Wembley and Gerd Mueller scored doubles in the semi final win over Belgium and again in the final against the Soviets.
A World Cup win followed in 1974 and West Germany became the first country to hold the two trophies at once. At the club level Bayern Munich completed a hat trick of European Cup wins in 1974, 1975 and 1976 while Borussia Moenchengladbach won the 1975 UEFA Cup.
Synopsis What do you do if you are 3-0 up against Germany? Make sure you score another goal that way you will at least get a draw. Such is the never say die spirit of Germany a country never to be discounted in a big tournament.
Germany looks to have more fire power than they did two summers ago and have received a favourable draw – but don’t they always. And you know that if penalty kicks are needed that there are few teams that will fancy their chances against the Germans.
Coming Up in World Cup Qualifying Liechtenstein, Azerbaijan, Wales, Finland and Russia in Group 4.
Amazingly this will be Poland’s first appearance in the finals.
How they qualified Poland seemed to be suffering a severe World Cup hangover as they started with a home loss to Finland, a draw away to Serbia before a second half goal away to Kazakhstan gave them their first three points.
They then set off on a run of six straight wins before a three game stumble brought a loss and two draws. Nonetheless they recovered to win Group A and finishing a point ahead of Portugal and four ahead of third place Serbia and Finland.
Ebi Smolarek was Poland’s top scorer in qualifying with nine goals including a ten minute hat trick away to Kazakhstan after a power failure.
The Coach Leo Beenhakker broke an 85 year-old tradition of Polish born coaches when he took over from Pawel Janas after the last World Cup. For the sixty-six year-old Dutchman it is another stop on a road that has seen him manage more than twenty teams since taking his first coaching join in 1967 with Go-Ahead Eagles.
At the international level Beenhakker has coached the Netherlands and Trinidad and Tobago at 1990 and 2006 World Cups.
Key Players Ebi Smolarek spent time with Feyenoord and Borussia Dortmund before moving to Racing Santander in Spain last summer. However, Smolarek can be a temperamental character who has been known to lose the plot from time to time.
Celtic’s Artur Boruc is currently the starting goalkeeper while Beenhakker is able to leave Jerzy Dudek out of the squad all together. Premiership-based keepers Lukasz Fabianski and Tomasz Kuszczak are in the Polish squad.
Great Euro Memory Polish fans will be hoping that the best is yet to come.
Synopsis A lack of consistency and quality has hurt Poland in the past and it may strike again. The final group game against Croatia may require a Polish win if they hope to move on to the last eight.
Coming Up in World Cup Qualifying The Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, Slovakia, Slovenia and San Marino will provide the opposition in Group 3.
African Cup of Nations After going four-for-four in the quarter finals of the African Cup of Nations it was just too good to last and although both my semi final picks have made it through to a final game it has turned out to be for third place rather than the actual final.
Although Ghana enjoyed an edge in the play a lack of sharpness in the penalty box cost them a place in the final. Cameroon was bound to create and take a chance and sure enough it happened. Apart from the goal an outstanding moment was Geremi's 30+ yard free kick that hit the junction of the bar and the post - an absolute cracking shot.
I thought the Egyptian back four looked a bit perturbed by the physical play on Angola’s Manucho in the quarter finals and felt that Drogba would cause the defense nightmares. As it turned out the defense played exceptionally well and overall I thought the Egyptians were outstanding for ninety minutes.
They got a couple of breaks from deflections but even so they showed as a well drilled and composed side that were worth their 4-1 win. However, I would be amiss not to mention the rocket of a shot from Keita cutting in from the left that looked to have got the Ivory Coast back in the game.
After handling Cameroon in the group stage and then the semi final victory over the Ivory Coast, Egypt will start as favourites to take their 6th African Cup of Nations title. At the risk of hexing Egypt I will take them to win 2-1.
Serie A One of the best games in prospect in Serie A is Juventus at Udinese. Udinese have only one win in their last six games and are slipping down the table. On the other hand Juventus is unbeaten in their last twelve games but six draws in the run means that although they remain in third position their points total has suffered.
When compared to Inter and Roma Juventus have slipped behind by 8 points and 3 points respectively. If history is a pointer then this game is good news for Juventus. Juventus has only lost three times in 33 visits.
Bundesliga The Bundesliga may have only been back for one week but the second round of the second half has a thrown up a top of the table clash between leaders Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen. Werder went into the winter break tied on points with Bayern but an unexpected loss to Bochum last week (the first Bochum win at Bremen in 31 tries) means they trail the Munich side by three points.
Bayern defensive home record is impressive with only two goals conceded in eight games. However, three draws means that their home points total does not necessarily reflect their defensive dominance.
On the other hand Werder Bremen’s away form has been poor with only 12 points from 8 games. Diego is Werder Bremen’s leading scorer with 9 to date and he is tied at the top of the Bundesliga scoring charts with Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose. Werder Bremen has also been buoyed by the return of Croatian international striker Ivan Klasnic after a second and this time successful kidney transplant.
La Liga The top game in Spain would appear to pit Sevilla against Barcelona. Sevilla is up to 7th position but is still making heavy weather of this season. As a precaution they also announced this week that they will take part in the Intertoto Cup if necessary in order to find a route to next season’s UEFA Cup.
Fabiano is having an outstanding season and has more than carried the goal scoring load so far this season with 16 goals to Freddie Kanoute’s 8. Previous to signing for Sevilla in 2005 Fabiano had been a bust at Rennes in France (2000) and then after returning to Brazil he signed for Porto in 2004. With a record of only 5 goals in 20 plus games he was not considered a success in Portugal. But since moving to Sevilla he has now made over 100 appearances and has scored around a goal every two matches.
Barcelona, on the other hand, has spread their scoring around with 13 different players contributing at least a goal so far this season.
Premiership What are the chances of getting through the minute of silence at Old Trafford without a Neanderthal contributing to the occasion? Not very good I am guessing. City has not had much success at Old Trafford and you have to go back to 1974 for their last league win.
It was the game decided by Denis Law’s back heeler with only a couple of minutes left. United fans then invaded the field, the game was abandoned, the result stood and six years after winning the European Cup Manchester United was relegated. Law’s goal is often described as one that relegated United but the fact is that United would have gone down anyway.
Although City is winless in 34 years and obviously without a win in ten Premiership visits they have drawn four times when visiting Old Trafford on Premiership business. City’s form has dropped off and when you look at the points they have garnered in blocks of five games it becomes quite clear - (from start of season) 9 pts, 13 pts, 8 pts, 6 pts, 5 pts.
Chelsea is hoping to extend their unbeaten home record and based on Liverpool’s record over the last number of years at Stamford Bridge it is a record that looks like being extended. Liverpool has been blanked on their last seven visits to Stamford Bridge and has only scored two goals in the last 12 visits in all competitions.
The only current Liverpool player to have scored at Stamford Bridge is Sammi Hyypia and Liverpool has only one win in 14 Premierships trips to Stamford Bridge. Over the last six league games Chelsea has picked up 16 points (best in the Premiership) against Liverpool’s record of four draws combined with a loss and a win – only good for 12th in the current form table.
So you have Chelsea riding the crest of a wave in terms of their recent premiership form against a team that they have largely owned in Premiership meetings at Stamford Bridge. Looks like a banker home win but this might just be the match that brings Chelsea’s unbeaten home run to an end.
Paul Doyle lists six outstanding goalkeeping displays.
Carlos Bilardo is not impressed with the quality of the play or the tactics in the Premiership. There again England has never been in love with the doctor.
Last weekend while Arsenal were putting five goals past Derby County, Liverpool were forced to settle for a scoreless draw with their Premiership bogey team Birmingham. This weekend Arsenal faces what could be considered their bete noire – West Ham United. As well as beating Manchester United twice last season, the Hammers also did the double over Arsenal – and didn’t concede a goal in the four games. A fantastic accomplishment for a team that only avoided the drop on the last day of the season.
In fact West Ham are looking for a fourth straight Premiership win over the Gunners having won 3-2 on their final trip to Highbury in February 2006. The other game that season between these two London rivals was a scoreless draw so Arsenal fans’ memories need to stretch back to January 2003 for the last time their favourites took three points off of West Ham.
Back then Thierry Henry notched a hat trick. Last weekend a hat trick from Emmanuel Adebayor claimed the first hat trick to be scored at Emirates Stadium and took his season tally to six in the Premiership. Arsenal will be hoping that the Togo international can strike again given that the Gunners have never lost in the 18 games in which Adebayor has scored.
While West Ham’s summer signing of Craig Bellamy (the only British player to have been transferred for $10M or more on five occasions – good or bad, discuss) has been the usual centre of attention it could be argued that the return of a fit Dean Ashton will prove to be of greater value to the Hammers. The now bottle-blonde Ashton (trying to become the first footballer to improve his game after dyeing his hair!) has scored in the last two Premiership games as well as scoring a very late winner in the Carling Cup in midweek.
A continuation of the scoring streak and Steve McClaren will find it difficult not to pick the former Norwich and Crewe striker for vital European Championship qualifying games in October. Three former Arsenal players will be in the West Ham squad - goalkeeper Richard Wright, Matthew Upson and Freddie Ljungberg. Former Charlton, Chelsea and Newcastle midfielder Scott Parker may finally make his Premiership debut for the Hammers.
Liverpool’s improvement away from home can be gauged by comparing their record on the road this season with their visit to Wigan last December. Liverpool thumped Wigan 4-0 but that was their first away win of the season and it came at the eighth time of trying. It also took their goals scored away from Anfield to five after being shut-out for 6 straight away games.
This season Liverpool have already won two away games, drawn the other and they have still let in a goal from open play this season. Since Wigan arrived in the Premiership Liverpool hold a perfect Premier League record with four wins from four matches, 10 goals scored and none against.
After leaving Fernando Torres out of the starting line up for the last two games (don’t mention rotation to Liverpool fans, I did once but I think I got away with it!) and then being held scoreless it is hard to see how Rafa Benitez cannot start the Spaniard on Saturday.
As for Wigan there is a sense that after two wins in their first three games their record of two losses and two draws in the last four games is a fairer reflection of their overall quality. However, Wigan are a team that manages to get on the scoreboard – albeit in the second half. They have only been shut out once this season but seven of their eights goals have come after a cup of tea and a pep talk.
Chelsea might have cruised to an easy midweek win over Hull City in the Carling Cup but the first priority has to be to stop the Premiership bleeding that has seen the Blues drop to their lowest league position in five seasons. Chelsea have only three wins in last 12 Prem games stretching back to last season and are currently without a goal in 329 minutes – their longest streak in nearly a decade.
We are so used to hearing that the first goal is so important in a game – and it is – but it has been a curse in Fulham games this season. The side scoring first in a Fulham league game this season has yet to win and on five occasions it has been the Cottagers. Conversely Chelsea has gone behind five times but still recovered to pick up seven points.
The dilemma for Avram Grant is how to come good on his commitment of playing attractive football when the platform for success comes from a strong defense – something that Chelsea has failed to deliver on this season. In seven games this season Chelsea has conceded 8 goals. That’s not a lot for a normal team but in the first 7 games last season they recorded 4 goals against and 4 shut outs - the season before it was 1 goal and 6 shut outs.
This weekend in MLS we may have a preview of a first round play off game in store. If the Chicago Fire can maintain a hold on 5th in the east and stay ahead of the western conference Colorado Rapids then there is a very good chance that they will “cross-over” and run into Chivas come the play-offs.
Chivas are now guaranteed place in the final eight and are also unbeaten in their last eight games. Their next challenge is to catch DC United in the race for the Supporters’ Shield. They are three points behind but with a game still in hand.
Chivas’ home record has been outstanding so far with ten wins and no losses in 12 games and they have only trailed at home in one game this season – 2-0 to DC United but still rebounded to share the points. Ante Razov has been hot with 6 goals in the last 4 games but the Fire will be confident of dousing his streak.
Ten of Chicago’s 14 away points have come in the last 6 games; the other 7 away games only generated 4 points. What’s more Chicago are also unbeaten in their last four games although three have been drawn. All things considered an excellent game in prospect.
In the Bundesliga it is the team currently sitting second – Bayer Leverkusen – trying to ensure that the four point gap on league leaders Bayern Munich does not grow larger this weekend. It also brings together the Bundesliga’s leading scorers from the last two seasons.
Miroslav Klose notched 24 goals two seasons ago for Werder Bremen but signed for Bayern Munich this summer. Around the same time the 2007 top marksman Theofanis Gekas moved from Bochum to Bayer Leverkusen. While most of the soccer world knows of Klose, Gekas is also a man with a nose for goals. He was the top scorer in Greece in 2005 and the runner up the following year before moving on loan to Bochum. He almost single handedly kept Bochum in the top flight while finishing as the Bundesliga’s top marksman in the 2006/07 season. This past summer a complex three deal that also involved Panathinaikos saw him land at Bayer Leverkusen.
So far this season Klose has got the jump on his Greek rival outscoring him 8 goals to 3. However, if Klose is to add to his total then he will have to do something that has not been done so far this season – score against Bayer at home. There again Bayern has averaged three goals a game away from home this season and this fixture has delivered 17 goals the last three times these sides have clashed in Leverkusen. I’m willing to bet that Bayer’s shut out streak is about to end.
Roma started a tough run of games last weekend with a draw against Juventus after leading 2-1 at half time. In midweek there was a reprise against Fiorentina. These two results combined with an Inter draw at Livorno and a win against Sampdoria means that Roma and Inter are now tied at the top of Serie A with 11 points from five games. Inter have not lost in their last five Serie A matches away to Roma although Roma can look back to a comprehensive Coppa Italia win last spring and a 1-0 Italian Super Cup win last month.
Totti was rested for Wednesday’s game but is almost certain to return for this table top clash. Totti was Europe’s leading marksman last season and has already scored 5 goals in his four games although he trails Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Inter who has two more – he’s tied at the top with David Trezeguet of Juventus.
After relinquishing their position at the top of the table for 24-hours to Villarreal (apparently their first time atop La Liga) Real Madrid leapfrogged three teams after beating Real Betis 2-0 on Thursday evening. Now manager Bernd Schuster returns to his old stomping ground where he will find his old charges in anything but fine fettle.
During his two years with Getafe, Schuster led them to consecutive ninth place league finishes and a Copa del Rey Final appearance last season.
His replacement Michael Ladrup – also a former Real Madrid and Barcelona player – has not got off to an au####ious start. Getafe is still winless after 5 games although they are undefeated at home with two draws. Getafe’s “success” during Schuster’s tenure – and his predecessor Quique Sánchez Flores - was very much built on performances at home. An illustration of that is the fact that Real Madrid has lost twice and drawn once at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez since Getafe were promoted for the 2004/05 season.
No goals but not a bad half of play. Germany has been the stronger side and although they have had a number of good set piece opportunities they have made very little of them.
Portugal survived some strong German pressure but started to create their own chances later in the half.
If goals are to come it looks to me as if Ronaldo and Klose are the players most likely to be involved.
Germany killed this game off early. Simply put - Ecuador just did not turn up for this one. Whether this was down to being overawed, the changes they made, or just taking a day off - who knows.
Schneider, Frings, Ballock, and Schweinsteiger ran the midfield and Klose and Podolski were given far too much room to operate. The pass from Ballack - played with backspin - to set up Klose for the second goal was a peach.
I would not underestimate the value of Podolski's goal. When goal scorers are not scoring it affects the rest of their game and I think we could now see more goals from him. The standard of Group A was poor.
However, three wins will have boosted German confidence and as had been said on many occasions - you can only beat what is in front of you. Defensively there are still questions about Germany. One day Huth will become a very good centre back but I do not think at present he is close to the finished article.Fragile might be the best description.
Ecuador will really have to pick their performance up whether they play Sweden or more likely England.
Under the category of "why don't you let sleeping dogs lie but what the hell I'll ask anyway". The "challenge" by Valencia on Ballack around the 50th minute mark looked "strikingly" similar to Mastroeni’s challenge that he was red carded for on Saturday. Valencia received a yellow.
Germany killed this game off early. Simply put - Ecuador just did not turn up for this one. Whether this was down to being overawed, the changes they made, or just taking a day off - who knows.
Schneider, Frings, Ballock, and Schweinsteiger ran the midfield and Klose and Podolski were given far too much room to operate.
The pass from Ballack - played with backspin - to set up Klose for the second goal was a peach.
I would not underestimate the value of Podolski's goal. When goal scorers are not scoring it affects the rest of their game and I think we could now see more goals from him.
The standard of Group A was poor. However, three wins will have boosted German confidence and as had been said on many occasions - you can only beat what is in front of you.
Defensively there are still questions about Germany. One day Huth will become a very good centre back but I do not think at present he is close to the finished article.Fragile might be the best description.
Ecuador will really have to pick their performance up whether they play Sweden or more likely England.
Under the category of "why don't you let sleeping dogs lie but what the hell I'll ask anyway".
The "challenge" by Valencia on Ballack around the 50th minute mark looked "strikingly" similar to Mastroeni’s challenge that he was red carded for on Saturday. Valencia received a yellow. Anyone see a marked difference in the challenge?
Germany hit the bar twice in two seconds. Klose climbs to early and the ball comes off his shoulder and comes back off the bar and an off-balance Ballack thumps it against the bar again.
But Germany get what must surely be the winner in injury time and it is two of Klinsmann's substitutes that do it. Odonkor latches on to a ball (on the right) and squares it to the Swiss-born Oliver Neuville who nips in front of the Polish defender and slides the ball into the net.
We might look back at this goal and mark it as the point when Germany's fortunes took off.
Without that goal there would have been doubts going into the last game but with the win everything changes.
Man of the match - It should probably go to Baszczynski or Bak at the centre of the Polish defense or Boruc in the goal. But I'm going to choose David Odonkor who proved that running in straight lines sometimes works.
You certainly know these two have some history - definetly a derby atmosphere.
Poland has a jump about their game that we didn't see when they played Ecuador.
Germany has created three clear cut chances and they may regret these misses if Poland can get their nose if front.
Klose should have put away two relatively easy chances while Podolski should have broken his WC duck.
All these chances have been created from the German left and when - or if - they score it looks like it will come from Lahm and Schweinsteiger on that side.
Arne Friedrich as he decided to run his own offside trap three yards behind the other three members of the German defense.
Per Mertesacker - first goal - and Christoph Metzelder on the second marker didn't look too smart either. Mertsacker was caught ball watching while Metzelder decided it was time for a bad Tony Adams impersonation.
Jose Porras didn't have a chance on any of the four German goals but nevertheless it is not a great start to the tournament for the Costa Rican keeper.
The Polish midfield was unimaginative and pedestrian against Ecuador. They moved the ball well until they hit the Ecuadorian midfield and then it all went pear shaped.
Tim Borowski was given the job of replacing Michael Ballack but he failed to establish himself in the game against Costa Rica.
It was a good day for....
Bayern Munich'sPhilip Lahm who has struggled with injuries for the last year or so. He was the unlikely scorer of the opening goal and set up the third German goal. He got forward to support the attack and linked well with Bastien Schweinstieger on the left hand side in the first half.
Miroslav Klose and Paulo Wanchopeboth notched doubles in the first game but failed in an attempt to become the first player to score a hat trick in the first game of the World Cup finals.
Torsten Fringswent close in the early stages but waited until the 87th minute to unleash a goal of awesome power. Taking a ball coming across your body is not easy but to hit the ball as well as he did - well that was quite something. Not dissimiliar to a winning goal by Arie Haan of Holland against Italy at the 1978 World Cup I thought.
Agustin Delgado set up the first goal for Ecuador with a near post flick from a long throw-in ala Bolton and scored the second one. I wonder what Gordon Strachan has to say about that performance.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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