Yesterday, at the Ernst Happel stadium at Vienna, Germany defeated Austria by one goal and ensured there place in the ongoing UEFA EURO 2008. In the quarter-final Germany will face Portugal. After six years, Germany will be facing Portugal in the quarter final.
Michael Ballack, German mid-fielder and the current captain of the German team scored the only goal from his spectacular free kick. This will be Germany’s first qualification from the group stages since they won the tournament in 1996.
In the first 49 minutes the German team could not gain control over the game. Further, Mario Gomez missed a goal from three yards. The first half of the match resembles the England-Scotland of Euro 2000 that took place at Hampden Park nine years ago. Austria was desperate to win the match. In the previous four matches, Austria did not play well against Germany. Finally, the deciding goal came from Michael Barrack’s unique free-kick.
On that same day, Osterreich, a Vienna based tabloid published Michael Ballack’s nude picture on its front page with the headline “Pull his pants off.” Ballack said that listening to them people would feel that the German team does not know how to kick a ball while they have been three time Euro champions. Unfortunately, they bit off more than they could chew.
On the other hand, three-time Euro Champion Austria did so poorly in their warm-up matches that there had been a petition urging them to withdraw from Euro 2008 before they embarrassed themselves.
Related article:
Telegraph.co.uk
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