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Germany qualified with little difficulty for Euro 2008 with a second place finish in Group D comfortably finishing 10 points ahead of the Republic of Ireland, who finished in a distant third. With only 1 defeat, at home to the Czech Republic when they had already qualified, Germany can be rightly pleased with their performance. Although they were defeated at home, Germany went through the qualification phase without loosing away including recording an impressive 1-2 win in Prague. In total they managed 4 away wins and 2 draws scoring 21 goals and letting in only 3. Drawn in Group D with the Czech Republic as fellow big hitters in the group it was always going to be a remote prospect that any other country would trouble either the Germans or the Czechs. The main opposition came from Ireland although Slovakia and Wales were both given outside chances of being able to unsettle Germany. However, with none of the smaller sides able to mount a consistent campaign to challenge the top seeds it proved to be a comfortable progression for Germany. German football came into the qualifying tournament still on a high after the success of hosting the World Cup tournament some two months previously. Although Germany fell short in the semi finals it was still a relatively strong performance under Jurgen Klinsmann. There were several changes though for the European Championship qualification. Jurgen Klinsmann stepped down at the end of the World Cup allowing his former Assistant Manager Joachim Loew to take over the reigns. Goalkeeping stalwart Oliver Kahn announced his retirement from international football after the World Cup but the squad was enhanced with several exciting youngsters such as young striker Mario Gomez and promising defenders, such as Manuel Friedrich from Bayer Leverkusen. Germany started their trail to Austria and Switzerland with a 1-0 home win over the Republic of Ireland. It took a second half goal from Lukas Podolski, his first of 8 that he would get during the tournament, to settle the match although in truth despite both sides sharing ball possession evenly it was the Germans who carried the greater threat. If they could have been accused of some wastefulness in front of goal in the match against Ireland the Germans improved their goal difference spectacularly after hitting 13 goals against minnows San Marino in the second match. The spectacular score-line once again sparked debate about the usefulness of such games but Lukas Podolski, who hit 4 of the goals, and his Bayern team-mate Bastian Schweinsteiger, who contributed another 2, certainly weren’t complaining! Miroslav Klose also helped himself to a brace as did Thomas Hitzelsperger and Michael Ballack, Manuel Friedrich and Bernd Schneider completed the rout with a goal each. Germany continued their excellent start with another big win, this time at the expense of Slovakia. Lukas Podolski was once more amongst the goals getting a goal in the 13 minute to set the Germans on their way. Michael Ballack and Bastian Schweinsteiger put them further in the lead before half-time. Although former Sunderland centre back Stanislav Varga got one back that was cancelled out by Podolski’s second of the game after the interval. A 1-1 draw with Cyprus looked like it may cost Germany some valuable momentum. Despite only registering one shot on target the Cypriots managed to find a way through. Panathinaikos forward Okkas cancelling out Ballack’s earlier opener and despite pressing for the remainder of the game the Germans were unable to find a way through. Germany then came up against the Czech Republic with both sides locked on 10 points after 3 wins and a draw each at the top of the group. It was Germany who dominated the match and although a late strike from then Lyon forward Milan Baros set up a tense finish the flow of the match was far more one sided than the score-line suggested. 2 goals from Kevin Kuranyi set Germany up for the three points and they enjoyed more possession and shots on targets than the hosts. With a three point lead at the top of the group Germany pressed home their advantage with 6 more goals against San Marino and a 2-1 win against Slovakia to finish the 2006/07 season some 5 points clear of the Czech Republic. Germany started season 2007/08 with a 0-2 win against Wales at the Millennium Stadium, two goals from Miroslav Klose winning the match. Knowing that only a point against the Irish at Croke Park would seal qualification with still three games left to play, a 0-0 draw achieved their aim. Having sealed qualification Germany took their foot off the gas and allowed the Czech Republic to pip them for the first place in the group. Germany lost 0-3 at home to the Czechs in the next game with a shadow side, in the process ending an unbeaten run in European Championship Qualifying stretching some 24 matches and 9 years! Germany bounced back with a 4-0 win against Cyprus before rounding out the group with a 0-0 draw against Wales, finishing on 27 points and second place. The comfortable qualification for Germany was achieved with the highest number of all 14 qualifiers with 35 goals scored in the 12 games, with an impressive average of just under 3 goals a game. However, the impressive tally should be offset slightly as 19 of the goals came against San Marino. If you remove those goals and matches the German average drops to 1.6 per match, which is a more reasonable total. With a relatively trouble-free qualification run assessing Germany’s prospects at this summer’s tournament on the basis of their results in Group D will be difficult. There is certainly plenty of goals in the side and the defence, on the evidence, of the qualification is also reasonably sound, but Germany should find the opposition somewhat tougher in Austria and Switzerland. Posted by James on Tuesday, 13th May 2008 (Average rating 0 from 0 votes. Vote) (0 Comments) |