Day 10 review
Austria 0 Germany 1 (predicted: 0-3)
The scoreline may not have reflected the German dominance but they were worthy winners against a brave effort from limited Austria. The 10,000 people who signed the petition calling for the nation not to compete and embarrass itself should be the ones left a little red-faced tonight. Despite a world ranking of #92 they battled gamely without looking like turning those rankings on their head.
Mario Gomez missed from about 3 yards out when the ball appeared to bobble up just before he swung at it. Regardless it was a shocking miss from a player who previously had struck 6 times in 12 games. Austria kept the lacking Germans at bay for most of the half and the most exciting part of the half was when both coaches, Joachim Low and Josef Hickersberger were sent to the stands for arguing.
The Germans played with renewed vigour after the break and once Michael Ballack slammed home from 30 yards there was only one likely outcome. Frings, Klose and Neuville all had chances as the game came to a close and the Austrians had to make do with a few half-chances.
Good effort from the hosts and they “go home” with their heads held high.
Poland 0 Croatia 1 (predicted: 2-1)
Even against a Croatian team showing 9 changes, Poland failed to impress. Despite some early pressure where Dudka headed wide, Croatia soon settled in and created several chances; Celtic keeper Artur Boruc keeping them at bay.
Poland battled on but once news of Germany’s goal came through their last glimpse of hope seemed to vanish. Ivan Klasnic – a player who last year underwent kidney surgery – scored the only goal soon after.
With three wins from three Croatia are being considered a dark horse for the tournament. They meet an unpredictable Turkey side in the quarter-final in what is shaping up to be a wide open tournament.
Day 11 preview
Ok I intended to write this part today but I was busy and had no time.
In a nutshell Italy are better than France.
Predicted: France 0 Italy 2
In a nutshell Romania will be strong enough to get a draw with a slightly weakened Dutch side (but one that includes Robben and van Persie).
Predicted: Netherlands 1 Romania 1
luv|footy 
Yes, Italy won after Ribéry was carried out with a broken leg and one french was sent off. As in the world championship I cannot cheer for Italy… 😦
I would have prefered to see France AND Italy go home and Romania join the quarter finals. Well, so much for that…
By the way: German player Thorsten Frings is said to have a rip injury and we don’t know of he will be able to play on Thursday! On Wednesday the UEFA will decide if Löw will be allowed to coach his team in the stadium or not. In today’s press conference a journalist asked Löw if he can assure Germany reaching the semi-finals. Löw’s complete answer: “YES.”
If they really manage to beat the Portuguese, anything is possible. But i doubt they will make it…
Frings is an excellent player and a big loss for Germany if that’s true.
I was glad that Italy went through. I thought they were unlucky not to get more points from first two games and they will get stronger as tournament goes on. Don’t rule them out.
Well at least I got the Italy score right…
Well, I wouldn’t mind Luca Toni finally getting that ball IN the goal. 😉 But the rest of his team can go home. 😀