Germany's 3-2 victory over Portugal at EURO 2008 has sparked a wave of euphoria reminiscent of the World Cup they hosted two years ago.
Coach Joachim Löw had to watch his side's win against the highly-fancied Portuguese from the stands in Basle, having been red-carded in the group stage game with Austria. Meanwhile, it was a player just back from suspension himself who stole the show: FC Bayern midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger scored one and set up Germany's other two goals.
Change in tactics
Löw, naturally, was delighted with the turn of events. His team ran out in a new tactical formation and it paid off, with assistant coach Hansi Flick (”He did brilliantly”) proving a more than able deputy. “We put everything into it. Passion, dynamism, technique - they were all top-notch. We showed that we are to be reckoned with”, a high-spirited Löw said on Friday.
Changing room joy
During the game itself, the 48-year-old coach was going through visible torment up in one of the boxes in St. Jakob-Park. “It was very odd. I was more nervous up there than I am down on the touchline”, he admitted. Perhaps with that in mind, UEFA had had the foresight to lay on aspirin and baldrian tincture for him.
Löw was finally able to let off steam when he was allowed into the changing room, ten minutes after the final whistle had blown. “All I can say is - we had a wild hugfest”, Christoph Metzelder noted.
Time to refocus
Those scenes were repeated a million-fold across Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel even took temporary leave of absence from an evening meal with other EU leaders to catch the end of the game on the small screen.
Löw has warned, however, against getting too carried away by it all. The team “let their hair down” after the game but from Saturday onwards, at the latest, it will be important “to come back down to earth and start building up the tension again. We're aiming for the final. We'll have to push ourselves to the limit, and we can't afford to slacken.”
New-found confidence
Having - on the basis of their patchy form in the group stage - somewhat upset the odds to overcome the Portuguese, the players themselves are basking in a new-found self-belief. According to captain Michael Ballack, “We've taken a huge step forwards and, quite properly, set out our stake. We're now in a position to reach the final.”
Ballack himself had a first-rate game, rounded off by his 61st-minute header to put Germany 3-1 up. Even he was outshone by Bastian Schweinsteiger, however. The FC Bayern man fired his side in front (22.), laid on the second for Miroslav Klose (26.) and repeated the feat for Ballack on the hour mark with another free-kick.
Tactics the key
Individual performances aside, the introduction by Löw and Flick of a 4-2-3-1 system was an integral part of Germany's success. “After the games against Croatia and Austria, we felt the need for a few small corrections”, said Löw, adding that “our use of space was excellent this time.”
Whether the same tactics will be used in the semi-final remains to be seen, though. Löw has already hinted otherwise, saying, “I've always said that 4-4-2 is our basic formation, because we have very good men up front.”
Against Portugal, 4-2-3-1 was “the right measure”, however. What showed Löw was, “that we can make corrections as and when they are necessary. That kind of flexibility is very important in a team for a tournament like this.”
Ballack, too, observed that, “the change did us good.” Most important at the end of the day, though, is “that the players take on the responsibility on the pitch.”
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