The German national team have, thanks to a 1:0 (0:0) win over Austria, reached the quarter final stage of the European Championship. Werder Bremen were represented in the German starting eleven once again by Per Mertesacker, Clemens Fritz and Torsten Frings whilst Tim Borowski came on late as a substitute to replace his Bremen team mate Fritz. Whilst Werder’s new signing Sebastian Prödl was forced to follow the game as a spectator due to a one match ban, Martin Harnik was involved for Austria over 66 minutes. In the end though, the defeat meant the tournament’s second host nation bowed out of the competition at the group stage.

It took until the 49th minute, but German captain Michael Ballack eventually broke the deadlock in a tough tie. With a powerfully driven free-kick from 25 meters out, the midfielder found the top right corner of the net to leave keeper Jürgen Macho no chance and put his side 1:0 in front. The bottom line was a narrow but deserved win for the Germans to secure them second place in Group B.

On Thursday evening at 8:45pm, Germany will take on Portugal, who claimed top spot in Group A, at St. Jakob-Park in Basel. The last meeting of the runner-up from EURO 2004 and Germany was on July 8th 2006 in the World Cup third place play-off in Stuttgart (3:1 to Germany). At the 2000 European Championships, Germany suffered a hefty 3:0 defeat at the hands of a Portuguese reserve eleven – the heaviest defeat suffered by Germany in their EURO history.