It seemed like a monumental shock was on the cards. Against the run of play in the 55th Georgios Samaras had equalized for Greece and the Germans, despite dominating possession found themselves level with 25 minutes to go. Would the Germans cave under the pressure of expectations?
Not a chance! Samaras’s goal woke up the Germans, who went up another gear and three goals within 13minutes from Sami Khedira, Miroslav Klose and Marco Reus ended any hopes of a Greek bailout and the Germans move on to another semi-final.
What made Germany’s performance so impressive was that Low “rested” three of his best players for the semi-finals!!
Low dropped Mario Gomez, Lukas Podolski and Thomas Muller and brought in Reus, Klose and Andre Schurrle and Germany never missed a beat.
In this game Germany was full of energy, movement and running especially in the first half when they tore the Greeks apart.
In the opening 45 minutes, each German player ran on average 300 yards more than a Greek player. Germany made 344 passes to the Greeks’ 78 in the opening period.
The amazing thing was that Germany only led 1-0 at half-time thanks to wonder goal from their captain Phillip Lam.
What made Germany’s performance so impressive was that Low “rested” three of his best players for the semi-finals!!
Low dropped Mario Gomez, Lukas Podolski and Thomas Muller and brought in Reus, Klose and Andre Schurrle and Germany never missed a beat.
Afterwards Low explained his decision to rest his big guns saying:
“To be cheeky is a good thing. It was the time to bring in some fresh faces and different types of players who could do a job and it worked very well.
“Khedira was great. Dynamic. A real leader. He’s always there and ready to run into the box but also always holds his position and is tough to beat in the one-on-one.
“He’s positive and good for those around him.”
It is going to take a very good side to beat Germany in these Euros. I don’t think that Italy or England, their two potential semi-final opponents have the talent to beat them. But Spain does and that could be a fantastic final on July 1st.
