
So, finally the first round of EURO 2008 is over and we have got some unexpected results ,but that was expected at this stage .France was probably the biggest team to be knocked out and Greece was thrown out of the competition as they lost all three league matches .Czech Republic crashed out of the competition by some great football by Turkey in the late minutes .Turkey in quarterfinals might have surprised some of the experts but everybody expected something special like this from them .
So let us see what we have in the first round of quarterfinals for us .
PORTUGAl Vs GERMANY
Quarterfinals begin with last time's runner-up Portugal against struggling Germany .Seeing the current form ,Portugal are the favourites ,but you can never write Germany off .With inspirational Captain Ballack and the amount of experience they have ,they can be a very dangerous team .Both the teams have great goalkeepers .Though Lehman is a bit unpredictable ,but he has proved his class when it matters (Saving crucial penalties against Argentina in the last world cup was the latest example ) On the other hand Ricardo is one of the best in the world and germany's strikers will feel this .
DEFENCE
There is hardly anything to choose between them .With Portugal ,you have the Chelsea defence Line-up with Ricardo Carvalho ,Paulo Ferreira and Boswinga .Extremely difficult to get through them .And at the same time they have a tendency to move forward giving the mid fielders support .With Germany you have Per Mertesacker, Cristoph Metzelder and the extremely talented young Philipp Lahm .Lahm is defender by name ,but when he gets the ball and space ,he seems like a world class mid fielder .He is definitely one of the world's most talented fullbacks
Germany -- 4/5
Portugal-- 4.5/5
MIDFIELD
Bastian Schweinsteiger ,Michael Ballack,Torsten Frings--You cant get better than this .Germany has an edge in midfield with the charismatic Ballack with them and if he sets himself early ,it caan be a nightmare for the portugese defence .
Whereas in portugal ,Petit and Joao Moutinho along with the Deco (the Barcelona star ) have a formidable line-up.Deco is one of the most talent play maker .His unexpected long rangers can destroy the opposition any moment .He can handle the midfield alone to make goals for his strikers and Germany is aware of this .
Germany --4.5/5
Portugal--4/5
FORWARD
The only difference between the team comes here because they have somebody named "CHRISTIANO RONALDO ".Nobody has ever doubted his talent ,but now over the years he has become mature and it shows in his game.He can score goals from any position and more dangerously he can make goals for others in the team .Nuno Gomes doesn't seem to be in touch and he might not be a threat for the Germans .But you never know ..
For Germany Miroslav Klose is the man to look for .He is an exceptional striker and they will be fully relying on them as Poldolski might not play due to a calf problem .Gomes ,not Nuno but Mario is in a really bad form and might be replaced by somebody like Kevin Kuyrani .
Germany --3.5/5
Portugal--4.5/5
Portugal
Key players --Ronaldo ,Deco,Carvalho
Germany
Key players--Ballack,klose,lahm
PREDICTION -- WIN FOR PORTUGAL (2-0 or 2-1 )