Tonight is our first
taste of the fabled ‘Group of Death’ – and this, a fiery encounter between two
very talented sides. Such groups with three powerhouses usually earn the
notorious tag and, as a result, one of the respective teams is at risk from an
early tournament exit despite such high expectations. Unless you’re Alan
Hansen, who recently made the blunder of predicting that Germany, Holland and Portugal would make it out of Group
B. Although form from previous tournaments is nothing to go by on the night,
Germany beat Portugal by a scoreline of 3-2 in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008.
Road to Poland/Ukraine
Germany arrives in
Ukraine off the back of a flawless qualification campaign, in which they recorded
ten wins in ten games; during which, they scored 34 goals and only conceded 7.
As a result, Joachim Low’s men are many people’s favourites to lift the trophy
on the 1st July.
Portugal struggled in
their qualification campaign, finishing second behind Denmark in Group H (with
two losses in the process) and having to endure a play-off against Bosnia and
Herzegovina to earn a trip to Poland/Ukraine. After undergoing a poor start,
Carlos Queiroz was relieved of his duties, which saw Paulo Bento come in to
give the team the belief to reach the play-off stage. Having travelled east to
Zenica and coming away with a 0-0 draw, the Portugese played the 2nd
leg in Lisbon and delighted the home crowd with a 6-2 win.
Team News
The Germans have a
fresh squad going into their first match, now that Arsenal centre-back Per
Mertesacker has recovered from an injury which he picked up in training.
The only concern for
the Portugese is the fitness of Manchester United winger Luis Nani, who is
suffering from a problem in his right foot. Bento could place him on the bench
so that he is fully fit for the remaining group fixtures, and potentially a run
into the knockout stages.
Threats
Germany has two top
strikers to choose from, in the experienced Miroslav Klose and the perennial
tap-in maestro – Mario Gomez. Klose was the second-highest goalscorer in
qualifying, with nine goals to his name. With the bulk of their first team
coming from the Bayern Munich side that narrowly lost the Champions League
final to Chelsea, the Germans are certainly a tightly knit unit. Once you add
the flair of Mesut Ozil and re-assurance of Manuel Neuer into the equation, you
can see why they are a force to be reckoned with.
Portugal also has a
very strong starting team. The central defence partnership of Pepe and Bruno Alves
will prove very hard to break down. In front of them will most likely be a
midfield three of Miguel Veloso, Raul Meireles and Joao Moutinho; a combination
of slick passers. The main threat will obviously come from arguably the finest
player in the world – Cristiano Ronaldo. After scoring 46 goals in 38 games on
his way to earning a La Liga
winners’ medal for Real Madrid, the defensive unit of Germany will have
to work very hard in order to nullify his incredible combination of skill, pace
and power.
Probable Line-ups
Germany: Neuer, Boateng, Badstuber, Mertesacker, Lahm, Khedira,
Schweinsteiger, Ozil, Muller,
Podolski, Klose
Portugal: Patricio, Pereira, Pepe, B. Alves, Coentrao, M. Veloso, Meireles,
Moutinho, Quaresma, C. Ronaldo, Postiga
Arena Lviv, Lviv
Kick-off: 7.45PM on BBC1
Both teams will
display very solid starting line-ups, and may not be at their best so early in
the campaign – so I’m going for a 1-1 draw
No comments:
Post a Comment