Euro 2008: Day 13

Portugal vs. Germany

2 - 3

Holy cow, was that a good game! I'll admit, I was a little scared going in, because Germany had been playing like such poop lately, and Portugal had been on fire, but right from the very beginning of the game, the Germans made it clear that they had come to play. They scored just 20 minutes in and led the whole way after that. The goal was such a beauty, too. A swift succession of give-and-go passes found Podolski powering down the wing, breaking free of his defender to cross the ball right to the goal mouth, where Schweinsteiger redirected it, mid-slide. What a way to come back into play, in his first game back since getting that red card in the game against Croatia! He played an instrumental role in Germany's other two goals, too, which were both headed in off of two perfectly-placed free kicks by Schweini. Of course, Portugal had to make it interesting, though. They scored their first goal right before the half to cut the score to 2-1, then their second with just a few minutes left in the game, and continued putting on the pressure right up until the last second. Waiting for the clock to run out practically gave me an ulcer, which hadn't yet happened in this tournament. Portugal can't be disappointed in the way that they played--they were a real threat for much of the game--but Germany was just better. They played the way everyone knew they could, and it was incredible to watch.

On a shallow note, it was almost as if former Euro Cup boyfriend Cristiano Ronaldo knew I was going to have to root against him this game, since he took the trouble to make his (usually awful) haircut look especially heinous. Much appreciated, man. Have a nice summer. Of course, now that Ronaldo's out of it, I'm going to have to choose a new guy for my Euro Cup boyfriend. That guy, as if there was ever any real doubt, is Lukas Podolski.


He didn't have his best game yesterday--I suspect he's still hurting from whatever injury to his calf he sustained in the Austria game, though he's playing through it--but the way he set up that first goal was just beautiful. Also, I'm having a hard time finding photographic evidence of it, but he has the Derek-Roy-patented Little Bastard Grin mastered. What can I say? He just does it for me. Go Poldi! (By the way, google Poldi and/or Schweini--which I did to check the spelling--at your own risk. Apparently there's a rather extensive collection of fan videos on the internet dedicated to that slash pairing, which is... odd. To say the least.)

So, I find myself facing a conundrum when it comes to tonight's game, which will determine who Germany will play in the semifinal. On the one hand, Germany lost to Croatia the last time they played. Pretty badly. On the other hand, if they had played like they did last night instead of eleven sacks of shit, they would have had a much better shot. On the other other hand, a Turkey/Germany semifinal would literally split Germany (the country) in half. It would be civil war, and I don't even want to think what Berlin, which has the greatest Turkish population of any city outside of Turkey, would look like after a matchup like that. I'm told it's happened before, and that no one died or anything, but it seems like something you'd rather avoid. Anyway, I guess I'm just going to have to go down to the fan mile, play the part of disinterested spectator, and see what happens. Even though that means I apparently bought a Croatia jersey for no reason other than to look like a tablecloth. Oh well.