Influential midfielder Torsten Frings and top scorer Lukas Podolski have been rated as doubts to play against Portugal in Basle tomorrow night. Frings, who plays his football for Werder Bremen, has a fractured rib and Bayern Munich striker Podolski has a calf problem, both were picked up during the second half against Austria. This is [...]

Joachim Löw has been handed a one match touchline ban by Uefa and may have already managed his last match in charge of the German national side. Although he will officially be in charge of their quarter-final tie against Portugal, Löw will not be allowed any contact with his players once they reach the stadium [...]

German coach Joachim Löw expressed his pleasure at the teamwork shown by his side but admitted they would need to raise their game if they are to progress any further in this tournament. “We really played as a team tonight, I think that was one of the positives of the game against Austria. But we [...]

Bastian Schweinsteiger will miss tonight’s clash against co-hosts Austria through suspension after a push on Croatia’s Jarko Leko. The tie will decide who will qualify behind Croatia in second place and go on to play an impressive looking Portugal in the quarter-final.
Two of the injured trio have recovered from knocks picked up in the previous [...]

Croatia go top of Group B after defeat of Germans
There was much more passion about Croatia this evening than the opposing Germany, and not just on the field. The supporters flocked to Klagenfurt in greater numbers, they and the players sang Lijepa Nasa Domovino as if it meant more to them, and Slaven Bilic leapt [...]

Germany:
Jens Lehmann; Philipp Lahm, Christoph Metzelder, Per Mertesacker, Marcell Jansen; Clemens Fritz, Torsten Frings, Michael Ballack, Lukas Podolski; Miroslav Klose, Mario Gómez.
Croatia:
Stipe Pletikosa; Vedran Ćorluka, Robert Kovač, Josip Šimunić, Danijel Pranjić; Darijo Srna, Luka Modrić, Niko Kovač, Niko Kranjčar; Ivan Rakitić; Ivica Olić.
Ref: Frank De Bleeckere
Kick off: 5pm
Venue: Klagenfurt.

On the BBC coverage of Germany’s previous match, pundit Alan Hansen mentioned that the central defensive pairing could be the weak like in the side. Mertesacker has had two strong seasons with Werder Bremen but Christoph Metzelder has struggled with injury over the last season since his move to Real Madrid. This may lead some, [...]

Germany will battle it out with Croatia tomorrow night in the race to finish at the top of Group B. With Portugal winning winning their first two matches comfortably - 2-0 against Turkey in their opening match and 3-1 against the Czechs this evening - both teams will surely want to avoid a quarter final [...]

After watching the performance by the Netherlands during their 3-0 victory over the Italians on Monday night, it would be understandable if some had believed they had just watched the team who would go on to become European champions.
 
Many also thought they were watching future world champions when Argentina romped to a [...]

Looking at the groups before the Euro 2008 began, Group C seemed the easiest to predict. Germany, who start the tournament as favourites, were drawn against co-hosts Austria, future co-hosts Poland, and Croatia. Of the favourites to progress to the quarter finals, Croatia are the only non-Western side. The ‘lesser’ teams of [...]