Not Even Klose

Germany line-up: Neuer, Lahm (c), Hummels, Badstuber, Boateng, Schweinsteiger, Khedira, Reus (Gotze, 79'), Klose (Gomez, 79'), Schurrle (Muller, 67'), Ozil
Greece line-up: Sifakis, Torosidis, Tzavelas (Fotakis, 45'), K.Papadopoulos, Papastathopoulos, Katsouranis, Maniatis, Makos (Liberopoulos, 71'), Salpingidis (c), Samaras, Ninis (Gekas, 45')

Germany put themselves into the final four in emphatic fashion, thrashing Greece 4-1. But it could well have been more as Germany's 'inexperienced' youngsters all performed in the same efficient fashion as we'd expect. Despite being completely overpowered, Greece made a few chances of their own but their lack of eagerness to flood the box meant most of the counter attacks went to waste.

The writing on the wall came after just four minutes, a shot by Sami Khedira was spilt by the underwhelming Michail Sifakis and slotted home by one of the new breed, Andre Schurrle, but was flagged offside. From there, the onslaught began and how Greece weren't a goal behind before they were is unbelievable.

The Greek defence played like their economy and were completely cut open by the creative Germans. The pick of the next generation was Marco Reus who missed the first of a hat full of chances. Reus and Ozil linked up well but the shot from the Madrid star was straight at Sifakis, Reus also had a further two chances wide of the mark.

All of that was within the first 25-minutes before Sotiris Ninis had Greece's first chance when they sprung their first counter-attack. It tested Manuel Neuer but it was always going wide. Khedira then had the latest chance to be stopped by Sifakis before the deadlock was finally broken. It came six minutes before half-time with captain Philipp Lahm smashed a long range effort that swerved past the flailing Sifakis. Schurrle almost made it 2-0 before half-time but his rasping effort hit the side netting.


But there was a shock in the second half when Greece levelled ten minutes into the second half. Temporary captain, Dimitris Salpingidis, played a beautiful low cross that was met Georgios Samaras to stun the European spectators.


Parity only lasted for six minutes though. Jerome Boateng sent in a cross that Khedira exquisitely volleyed home to put Germany firmly back in charge. Seven minutes later and it was 3-1; Miroslav Klose put himself just four goals away from Gerd Muller's all-time record. The veteran striker headed home an Ozil free-kick to well and truly Greece's campaign.


The cherry on top of the cake came for Marco Reus. His fantastic performance was rounded off when Klose's shot was once again parried by Sifakis. The Dortmund youngster then rifled the follow up home to make it 4-1. 


Greece did get a final hoorah to end the match; they were awarded a penalty when Boateng was judged to have handled a cross despite having his back to it. Salpingidis stepped up and atoned for his miss against Poland by slotting it into the bottom corner. 


Despite the second goal, it looked a very ominous performance from the Germans. This could be slightly unnerving for both Italy and England whichever generation gets picked to play.