Euro 2012: Greece kicked out of euro

Germany dominated Greece 4-2 to advance into the semifinals of the Euro championship. It wasn’t even this close, as the Greeks basically parked the bus to hold down the score line. Still, they managed to have a few minutes of joy when they shockingly tied the match on a clever breakaway. Still, they can’t complain now that they have to go back to the drachma…

The DFB squad came out with a surprise lineup, as Klose, Reus and Schürrle started. Perhaps Joggi Löw he could run out any lineup and still win, and basically he was proven right. Greece gave a valiant effort, but they were outclassed. Germany dominated from the start, controlling the ball and pressuring the Greek defense, which often seemed like they had 10 guys in the box. Despite a lot of pressure (and some luck when an early goal was discounted for a very nitpick offside), the Greeks somehow managed to hold off, until Philip Lahm banged in from outside the box. To give an idea of the lopsided affair, in the first half Germany completed 360 passes, Greece only 60.

The second half was more of the same, although Greece did get their shining moment. A blitz raid down the left and a perfect ccross, Boateng waving like a wanker, Samaras knocked home the equalizer. Didn’t really faze the DFB squad, and they just continued the pressure, and a few minutes later the outstanding Khedira smashed in a volley. Klose added another shortly as he outleapt everybody for a header, and Reus hammered home a rebound. Greece got a consolation penalty at the end when Boateng screwed up again and handled the ball.

Overall, a strong performance, but hard to evaluate, because Germany was clearly better. Khedira was outstanding, Reus, Lahm and Özil very good. On the negative, Boateng was largely crap, especially since he didn’t have much to do, and Schweinsteiger didn’t seem to be in the game, losing the ball frequently and making crummy passes. Maybe he should have been given the night off. I’d also say that Löw’s experiment with Schürrle didn’t pan out, so expect Podolski back after his day off, although Reus at least made his case. Klose was actually pretty good, although I would think Gomez probably still gets the nod.

Germany    -   Greece    4:2 (1:0)

Attendance: 38,751 (PGE Stadium, Gdansk)

1:0  Lahm (39., Özil)
1:1  Samaras (55., Salpingidis)
2:1  Khedira (61., Boateng)
3:1  Klose (68., Özil)
4:1  Reus (74., Klose)
4:2  Salpingidis (89., penalty)

GERMANY:
Neuer
Boateng, Hummels, Badstuber, Lahm
Schweinsteiger, Khedira
Reus (80. Götze), Özil, Schürrle (67. Th. Müller)
Klose (80. Gomez)

GREECE:
Sifakis
Torossidis, Papastathopoulos, Papadopoulos, Tzavellas (46. Fotakis)
Makos (72. Liberopoulos), Maniatis
Ninis (46. Gekas), Katsouranis, Samaras
Salpingidis

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