The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2012, is now 17 days old – we are at the end of round one -and there has been a lot fo good and exciting football with 2 more teams through to the next phase . I will be writing a daily blog article with the salient features of all the games. Please send us your thoughts and comments on the form below. – Filip v d Plas-
GERMANY – GREECE 4-2
Germany eagerly did what they had to do and many wished they would do and that is produce a lot of goals and to take this year’s great EURO 2012 tournament to even higher levels of football finesse.
However they took their time doing it against the Greek opposition . They in turn were dangerous at all times against with their latent Greek counterattack – as in the 55th minute as Dimitris Salpingidis equalized after a previous German great goal by the almost Lilliputian Philipp Lahm .
However after the Greek equalizer when the game hang in the balance for both sides – Germany showed its true class with a 61st minute, header by Sami Khedira – the flood gates were then open and Germany never looked back.
Miroslav Klose then headed the ball into the Greek net just 7 minutes later after a great corner kick from Mesut Ozil. German midfielder Marco Reus then put all doubts to rest as he literally smashed in his teams 4th goal after Klose’s rebound had luckily ended at his feet.
I say …’luckily landed at his feet’ but what he did with it was not luck but pure perfect football instinct and experience ! He shot the ball hard and directly INTO the net and not over or beside as many much more prolific strikers would have done.
It was too much for the gritty Greek team who had done their best and can proudly leave this tournament with their heads held high. They got a rather lucky penalty awarded in the dying minutes of the game when Boateng was incorrectly judged to have ‘handled ‘the ball. He had had his back to the ball and the kicker of ball when this so-called offence took place – so if UEFA can explain how this is possible it would be much appreciated!
Ms Merkel who was amongst the public watching the game tried to look diplomat when Germany scored – but failed miserably! It was very funny to watch her child-like reaction and I am glad she had a good day – not too many for her in these last months along with being blamed for the economic crisis in Greece – which is false [see yesterdays blog article -http://www.ota-berlin.de/blog/06/22/euro-2012-daily-report-day-16-later-today-germany-vs-greece-angela-merkel-will-watch-germany-greece-live-at-the-pge-arena-in-gdansk-is-it-a-e-euro-grudge-match-by-contribu/
Later this evening Spain will be looking for a little historical revenge against northern neighbour France, because they have never beaten the French in 6 major tournaments – the last in the 2006 World Cup. Both teams have the personnel to go all the way to the final but are both not completely in form. Both deserve to be in the final but after this evening ……only one will be.
The bed-wetters from the Betting companies are saying that Spain are favorites – so be it. However I think France could win this evening if they have some luck on their side. It would be a pity to see Spain leave the tournament – but that was the case with Russia and the Czech Republic and Poland also.
While both Miroslav Klose has one goal and Mario Gomez with three goals - the importance of Mesut Özil as key player in mid-field cannot be denied and if there is a star on the German team it is Mesut Özil. He is starting to show his great vision and intelligence and if Germany do win the EURO this year then he will certainly be the one who will play a central role.
The German team play fluid and dynamic football – perhaps not as well as Spain and France but I like Germany and I like the team and coach. They deserve to go a long way I wish them luck.
Euro 2012: Germany’s power ends Greece’s taste of the high life - Kevin McCarra at the PGE Arena, Gdansk writing in today’s Guardian UK newspaper – http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jun/22/euro-2012-germany-greece
Kicker.de wrote in German -http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/em/startseite/europameisterschaft/2012/4/1122682/spielanalyse_deutschland_griechenland.html
What did you think of the Refereeing at the EURO 2012? Please let us know and vote for or against what you thought about the REF – http://www.ota-berlin.de/blog/06/19/euro-2012-best-and-worst-wurst-referees-at-euro-2012-poll-by-contributor-ota-berlin-constituency-blog-contributor-mr-filip-van-der-plas/
Best place I have found to watch EURO 2012 in Berlin is at the PRATER beer garten on http://www.pratergarten.de/d/ on Kastanienallee 7 – 9 in Prenzlauer Berg. Very close to the OTA-Berlin Serviced Apartments buildings at Metzer Strasse and Schoenhauser Allee.
This blog is brought to you by …..OTA-Berlin Constituency Blog’ is part of OTA-Berlin ‘……the intelligent Apartment-Alternative to Hotels in Berlin’. The views of the article are those of the writer Mr Filip v d Plas and not necessarily those of OTA-Berlin.
EURO 2012 – Daily Report – DAY 17 GERMANY with Mesut Özil show they have the ability to win EURO 2012 as they defeat GREECE 4-1 in Gdansk – Later today FRANCE vs SPAIN in 2nd semi-final matches- by contributor OTA-Berlin Constituency Blog contributor Mr Filip van der Plas from OTA Berlin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Germany License. If you use this article or parts of it, please refer to http://www.ota-berlin.de.
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