Portugal vs Germany
The hardest to call of all the quarter finals. Portugal have played some wonderful football in flashes, but have not hit the heights of Holland. Germany, coming into the tournament as favourites, have put out one good performance and two poor ones. But, to draw upon clichéd footballing stereotypes, we can always rely on the Germans to up their game when it matters. Equally, these fancy Iberian sides can play some beautiful football in the group stages, but choke in the knock outs.
Seriously though, it's going to be tight. I can't see Nuno Gomes getting much out of Metzelder and Mertesacker, but that's not where the game will be won. Given how stupid Torsten Frings was made to look by Luka 'the new Deco' Modric, he will have to be on top form not to be humiliated by the real Deco tonight. The combination of Deco, Moutinho, Ronaldo and Simao are masters of footballing geometry, and the aesthete within me hopes that they triumph over the more industrious Germans.
The Podolski/Gomez/Klose combination up front looked explosive against Poland but has been poor since. Moving Podolski up front with his Bayern Munich teammate (although that distinction will soon be meaningless amongst German forwards) might be the best idea, or even one forced on them by injury. Similarly, the Portugal back line has been inconsistent. Germany could score none, or three, quite easily.
So what to predict? My £5 on Portugal at 7/1 pulls me one way, national stereotypes the other. Last time Michael Ballack and Cristiano Ronaldo went head-to-head, one scored a penalty and lost the European Cup, the other missed his penalty but took home the medal. Maybe the anger and bitterness will drive Ballack into a certain place this evening. If it does, Germany could march on to the semis.
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