Heavy underdog Greece fought admirably hard but couldn’t prevent an onslaught of German goals from dumping them out of the tournament.
Germany 4 – Greece
2
– Expect the
unexpected. Conventional wisdom said that this would be a match low on
drama and high on negative tactics. Greece was expected to ugly the game up
before slowly folding under German pressure. Instead, the Greeks went out in a
blaze of glory. They were disciplined, yes, but had a reckless attacking side
that had been lacking earlier in the tournament. Those predicting a 3-0 rout
would have been pleasantly surprised with double the goals.
– Germany could be
an iconic team. It seems greedy, in the wake of Spain’s ascendancy
into the ranks of the all-time great sides, to ask for another side to rise to
a similar level. But Germany’s current squad is rounding into devastating form
and picking up scores of neutral fans. The side blends a Spanish penchant for
controlling the flow of the game with a fluent, quick-strike Plan B, and the
result is an endlessly appealing style of football. It feels blasphemous to
speak of Germany in the same breath as Spain, but the former is showing signs
of a tantalizing potential.
– Greece did itself
proud. It is a sign of how well the Greeks played that they did what
Portugal, Netherlands and Denmark couldn’t — pushing the Germans to the limit
and forcing them to reach another gear. It all seemed to be according to plan
when Philipp Lahm finally converted German pressure into a goal late in the
first half. Giorgios Samaras injected new life into the game and his side with
a surprising goal early in the second half, though, and while Greece’s newfound
hope didn’t last long, the strike underlined an admirable Greek spirit.
