Germany, Portugal to clash tit-for-tat at Euro 2008 quarters

BASEL, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Germany and Portugal, widely considered as title favorites for Euro 2008, are to clash tit-for-tat at the quarterfinal of the tournament in Basel on Thursday.

Germany, which were finished as Group B runners-up due to humiliating 2-1 loss to Croatia, are accused of poor performance by domestic fans.

German football icon Franz Beckenbauer was disappointed with Germany's performance in the group matches and he was gloomy over their encounter with Portugal, winners of Group A.

"Do we have a chance against Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portuguese with such a performance? No, definitely not," he wrote in his column in Bild.

Portugal progressed to the quarterfinal with comparative ease, winning their first two games in Group A. They beat Turkey 2-0 on the opening day with goals from Pepe and Raul Meireles and followed with a 3-1 victory against the Czech Republic in Geneva.

As C. Ronaldo was sparkling in group matches, Beckenbauer particularly noted the poor performance of Germany's midfielders.

"Our 11 must improve considerably to reach the semi-finals. The German midfield appeared to be lacking ideas, there was hardly any passing," he said.

As whole team are in low morale, Germany were hit with another blow as coach Joachim Loew has been banned by UEFA to guide the team in Basel.

The 48-year-old was punished by UEFA for "word battle" between him and Austria coach Josef Hickersberger on Monday's match. Loew is thus forbidden to present in the changing rooms, the players' tunnel as well as in the technical zone on Thursday.

Loew said chances for his team against Portugal are 50-50.

"The Portuguese will play forward much more than Croatia and Austria did and that favors our style," Loew said.

"In addition, for the first time in this tournament, we will not be the favorites in this match. I expect a game with two attacking teams and I think our chances are 50-50," he added.

However, Loew was confident in his team.

"We have already proved that we have top quality in our squad and I firmly believe that we can advance to the semi-finals," he added.

History shows that Germany are on the superior place when competing with Portugal.

Germany have had the better of the 15 meetings between these two sides with seven victories compared to Portugal's three and five draws.

The teams last met at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in the match for third place. Germany won 3-1 with all the goals coming in the second half.

Bastian Schweinsteiger scored twice and a Petit own goal gave Germany a three-goal lead before a late Nuno Gomes consolation in the 88th minute.

Scheinsteiger, who was banned for one match due to a direct red car in the game against Croatia, will come back to the pitch on Thursday, making Germany proud of full lineup against Portugal.

German captain Michael Ballack, who sealed the accusation with a superb free-kick score in Monday's match against Austria, said he had a lot of respect for Portugal, but Germany "do not fear them."

"All their players are very good individually and they play well as a team as well, they're very good in attack and not too focused on defense," he said.

Ballack will not be happy to cross swords with Ronaldo again. The Portugal winger's 42 goals in an explosive season went a long way to helping Manchester United FC to victory in both UEFA Champions League and Premier League, with Ballack's Chelsea finishing as runners-up in each.

"Both teams want to go far in this competition and Portugal are probably favorites," Ballack said.

"We've maybe slipped to a different role and who knows, maybe that will favor us," he added.

Portugal also keep low profile ahead of Thursday's quarter-final.

Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari reminded his players of Germany's aerial threat.

"I have to worry about finding some way of dealing with their free-kicks," he said.

Portugal winger Simao insisted his country are not favorites to win the quarter-final against Germany.

"We know what quality we have, but we also know that Germany have been building their team since 2000, whereas we've been forming a new group since the last World Cup," he said.