Germany progress as Portugal leave it late
GERMANY are on the verge of the Euro 2012 quarterfinals following their 2-1 win over Holland last night, as Mario Gomez scored twice, while the Dutch are heading for a firstround exit.
World Cup finalists Holland will bow out on Sunday unless they beat Portugal in their final game and hope Germany defeat Denmark the same day in Lviv to give them a chance of reaching the last eight.
After Portugal earlier beat Denmark 3-2 in Group B, Germany now need only a point against the Danes in Lviv the same day to be sure of reaching the last eight at Euro 2012 as group winners.
Having scored the winning header in Germany’s 1-0 victory over Portugal, Germany’s Gomez is now the tournament’s joint top-scorer with Russia’s Alan Dzagoev with three goals after Bastian Schweinsteiger set up both his first-half strikes.
Holland gave themselves a late lifeline when Arsenal striker Robin van Persie pulled a goal back 15 minutes from time, but it was not enough to prevent their second Euro 2012 defeat after Saturday’s shock 1-0 defeat to Denmark.
A great chance fell to Van Persie after five minutes as a ball over the top got behind the German defence, but the striker could only fire his shot into Neuer’s grateful arms.
Germany replied as Mesut Ozil hit the post on eight minutes, but the Dutch went back on the attack soon after as Van Persie fired wide this time.
The Germans took the lead thanks to a clever through-ball from Schweinsteiger which beat the Dutch off-side trap and fell to the feet of Gomez, who rifled home the pass on 24 minutes.
In the earlier match, in Lviv, Portugal’s Silvestre Varela came off the bench and smashed home an 87thminute goal to give his side a 3-2 victory over Denmark and keep them on track for the quarterfinals.
With three minutes left Portugal looked set to drop two more points after another flat tournament performance in which they let slip a twogoal lead against the Danes, for whom Nicklas Bendtner equalised in the 80th minute.
Then Varela, who had only come on in the 84th minute, was given time and space to take two swings at the ball and whacked it into the net. He immediately disappeared under a pile of jubilant team-mates and substitutes.
Although Nani had an excellent game, making one goal and generally tormenting the Danish defence, Cristiano Ronaldo disappointed in a big international game yet again.
The winger, known for underperforming at tournaments, wasted two good chances, firing straight at Danish goalkeeper Stephan Andersen in the 50th minute, after breaking away and taking an excellent pass from Nani and screwing a shot wide in the 78th when it looked much easier to score. Sapa-AFP