Super Mario

Germany Line-Up: Neuer,9 Lahm (c), Hummels, Badstuber, Boateng, Schweinsteiger, Khedira, Podolski, Gomez (Klose, 80'), Muller (Bender, 90'), Ozil (Kroos, 87')
Portugal Line-Up: Rui Patricio, Pepe, Pereira, Alves, Coentrao, Meireles (Varela, 81'), Veloso, Moutinho, Postiga, Ronaldo, Nani     


Germany come through a cagey opening game to give themselves the best possible chance of getting out of the group of death. There were few meaningful chances between the teams and it took one brilliant pieces of anticipation from Mario Gomez to separate the sides.


The first half saw the heavyweights trade jabs but there was nothing to really trouble Manuel Neuer or Rui Patricio. Most attacking moves in the opening 45 minutes were cancelled out by miserly defending and neither team really had the upper hand. That was until the half-time whistle was nearly upon us, a Portugal corner was controlled by Pepe before hitting a placed shot that came down off the crossbar but it didn't cross the line, much to the appeal from the Portuguese players.


The second half went much like the first, with further jabs being traded by the teams. Gomez had been largely uninfluential during the match and Miroslav Klose had been stripped and ready to go. A deflected cross saw the Bayern Munich striker run towards the looping ball to finely head past Patricio to give Germany the lead on 72-minutes. 


From there, Portugal began to pepper the German defence but it stood strong and frustrated the strikers. Nani saw a mis-hit cross hit the bar before a goal bound shot was blocked by Holger Badstuber's shoulder. But their best chance of an equaliser came when substitute Silvestre Varela was put through by Nani, but Neuer came out and buffeted his youngster's shot.