UEFA EURO 2012 – JUNE 22nd ROUND UP
I had predicted that Germany’s ‘Mannschaft’ would decimate the Greeks, but I couldn’t help but keep my fingers crossed for the underdogs and hope that they would at least play to win. I was not disappointed.
This game could have been one of those matches where one team is dominant and present while the other is pretty much not playing (SWEDEN v FRANCE, for those of you that need an example), but both sides played like they had something to prove. Greece surprised most by making it to the knockout phase of the tournament (since they have not accomplished much since their EURO 2004 win), they were out to try and get closer to the title. Unfortunately for them, they were paired with perhaps the strongest contender to win this year’s UEFA EURO title. “Ze Germans” are kicking ass and taking names this year, and rightly so, after 16 years of almost getting their hands on major trophies (a statistic that would annoy any German).
Lahm put the Germans ahead in the 39th minute, but the lead was short-lived as Samaras leveled the score early in the second half. The tie was equally short-lived, as Joachim Low’s men decided they didn’t want to play nice with the Greeks anymore. An onslaught of goals followed in the 61st, 68th and 74th minutes (courtesy of Sami Khedira, Miroslav Klose and Marco Reus respectively). I am pretty sure everyone watching thought it was the end of the Greeks, and that the match might as well have ended in the 74th minute. However, in the 90th minute, Salpingidis was awarded a penalty shot (because of Boateng’s handball) that gave him the opportunity to close the gap on the Germans and exit the tournament on a slightly better note.
The Germans will wait and see who will make it out of the England-Italy match on June 23rd. Tomorrow, France and Spain face off, and the winner will meet Portugal (I hope France got the memo that they actually need to play tomorrow night).
