Aufwiedersehen Austria

Spielfuehrer Michael Ballack sends the Mannschaft marching into the quarters

It's unglamorous but the job's done. Deutschland is through to the quarters after beating their Anschluss buddy 1-0, courtesy of Michael Ballack. Loewe remains stubborn on his choices and Mario Gomez was there to start for the third time in a row.

Once again, it was some really poor attacking play by the Germans at the first half. The most notable was yet again, a chance that was squandered by Gomez. It was supposed to be just a simple tap in from a beautiful pass but Gomez's first touch was so "wonderful" that it went vertically upwards instead of rolling horizontally into the goal. It was nice to see good old Arne Friedrich back at the right and Lahm at the left. However, the lack of Schweinsteiger in front of him meant that Lahm always got stranded after making his penetrating runs.

The Austrians did not show any respect to the Germans. The defence had to work hard to contain the Austrians that kept running into the German box. They kept running in but the finishing is just rather poor for the Austrians, rendering them toothless. Looks like only one person would in their team would qualify for a lifetime supply of beer..lol. Anyways, both Loewe and the Austrian manager got sent off by the referee to the stands for arguing on the pitch..haha.

At the second half, Germany's moment came from a thunderous rocket free kick from Spielfuehrer Ballack. The powerful shot smashed through the top corner of the net. He would be so glad to have scored that because Germany didn't manage to build up on that momentum to score another. Mario Gomez was finally replaced once again, this time earlier than previous matches, by Hitzlsperger. A slight improvement in attack as Podolski moves up to his centre forward position again. There were a couple of shots that scare the Austrians but the goalkeeper was there to save it. Neuville came in for Klose at the final minutes of the game. Speaking of that, I'm starting to begin having doubts of Klose too as he hasn't been making himself useful upfront. A couple of useful play by the veteran Neuville but I think he should really have passed the pass at the final chance of the game.

The quarterfinals between Deutschland and Portugal is gonna be interesting because both have problems in the striker department. Portugal had to depend solely on Nuno Gomes while Germany's strikers have been firing blanks. The Germans might have an advantage though if Loewe seriously put Podolski upfront for the duration of the whole match instead of putting him there when he makes a substitution. But still given the way the Germans are attacking, the Portugese superiority in speedy wingers might just overcome them in scoring. In 2006, the Germans triumph over the Portugese because the solid defence is collaborated with a deadly attacking force that is specialised in some hard powerful shots. Uhh..hopefully Loewe would change his starting eleven tactics right for the next round before another boo boo performance starts to set in. Like what Shebby say, if he wants success, he has to be ruthless in chopping down players that don't perform.