EURO 2008 INFO

What he had told his players at half-time in the friendly match against Austria, Joachim Löw, the German coach, has managed undoubtedly choose the words he needed. As the statistics show, the co-of UEFA Euro 2008 held in Germany in the ropes for 45 minutes before the goals of Hitzlsperger, Klose and Gomez would reaffirm the status of favourites visitors…

In what was a repeat of the thrilling final match of group B which will be held on June 16, Austria has made known his intentions early in the match while the shooting of Christian Fuchs lacked goals in the 25th second.

With striker Lukas Podolski, the German player in the best position classification CPI, relegated to the bench, the visitors have trouble finding the goals and Alex Manniger when the German goalkeeper, Jens Lehman lack intercept a ball at destination of the Austrian Martin Harnik, only an alternate on the line goals prevents the home team to score.

Efforts by Fuchs - which covered more than 11.5 kilometers during the game - and the Austrian star in the best position classification CPI, Joachim Standfest, have been useless since Austria remained before the ill-fated goals.

Reversal
If the first half was characterized by time wasting Austrian finishes, the second showed how the Germans have mastered the art and how to seize their chance. Barely seven minutes after the start of the second half, and with Austria still dominant in terms of possession, Heiko Westermann reached on a shot crossed to Thomas Hitzlsperger, whose balloon reaches across a surface repair to reach overcrowded nets Manniger.

The purpose of Hitzlsperger is indicative of a Germany which instantly takes control of the match. Castrol statistics show that after the first goal, the visitors took the ball for the remainder of the second half-time without conceding only five minutes of possession. Back on the field after an injury, Captain Michael Ballack takes a rather slow start but finished the match with a solid performance. At the time of his substitution three minutes from the whistle, the midfielder from Chelsea FC travelled 11.2 km - more than any of his teammates.

Two more goals by Miroslav Klose and Mario Gomez sealed the victory 3-0 and generate statistics that make finals undoubtedly bring happiness to Löw. His men were able to make the most of their dominance in the second half-time with almost one third of gunfire framed. On the contrary, the weakness in the Austrian finish was more striking than ever when she failed to fit a single shot on his 13 attempts and 5 corners.

If the breeder Austrian Josef Hickersberger, has had difficulty in getting their hands on a wonder goals, it can still take a leaf out Löw and his speeches draw on motivation.