Euro 2012 Group B—Arena Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine.
GERMANY 1-0 PORTUGAL (Full Time)
Goals: Gomez (Germany) 72'
Lineups
Germany: Neuer; Boateng, Hummels, Badstuber, Lahm; Khedira, Schweinsteiger; Muller (Bender), Ozil (Kroos), Podolski; Gomez (Klose)
Portugal: Rui Patrício; Joao Pereira, Alves, Pepe, Coentrao; Veloso, Moutinho, Meireles (Varela); Nani, Postiga (Oliveira), Ronaldo
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FULL TIME IN LVIV
GERMANY 1 PORTUGAL 0
93'—Bruno Alves gets up to head the ball from the corner—but he sends the ball over the bar.
Schweinsteiger thumps to the ground in the aftermath of that header as he was caught by the Portuguese defender.
Germany late sub: Lars Bender on for Thomas Muller.
92'—GREAT BLOCK! Ronaldo cuts the ball back for Nani and his shot from close range is heading towards goal, but Badstuber makes a great block in the six yard box. Corner and last chance for Portugal.
92'—Last throw of the dice for Portugal, who move it wide left to Oliveira, but Hummels is across again and clears.
90'—Germany win the ball back high up the pitch but a moment's hesitation means they lose the chance to counter. Portugal running out of ideas and time.
Three minutes of added time to be played in Lviv.
88'—GOLDEN CHANCE TO EQUALISE. Oliveira does brilliantly to control and cross from the left, and Lahm inexplicably lets the ball run to Varela who has the whole goal to aim at—but Neuer is out quickly and smothers the shot at close quarters.
Great save, but the forward had to make more of that. That could be the last good chance Portugal get.
86'—Germany sub, Toni Kroos on for Mesut Ozil.
Joern Pollex/Getty Images 85'—Mats Hummels with more great defending, showing strength and aerial ability to fend off Oliveira and head a cross away to safety.
Five minutes left for Portugal to find an equaliser.
83'—NANI'S MIS-HIT CROSS HITS THE CROSSBAR!! Portugal are just a few inches away from a fortunate equaliser, as Nani's overhit cross floats over Neuer—and bounces off the bar! The keeper knew nothing about that and was relieved to see it bounce clear.
83'—Quick counter attack for Portugal, led by Coentrao, sees the full-back receive the ball back from Ronaldo and shoot at goal. The Germans get men back to make the block and the ball is deflected over the bar.
82'—Germany are looking very solid from set pieces though, and after Hummels gets something on the ball Neuer quickly gets out to pick up the ball.
81'—Ronaldo cuts infield an drills a low shot at Neuer which is swerving all over the place, and the German goalkeeper has to react quickly to scoop it away to safety. Portugal have the ball in the German area though and they win a corner.
Silvestre Varela also came on there, for Portugal, in place of Raul Meireles.
79'—SUBSTITUTION TIME. Mario Gomez is now replaced by Miroslav Klose for Germany, on his 34th birthday.
77'—Now that they are in front, Germany are suddenly playing some much more expansive stuff, partly aided by the bigger spaces in front of the Portugal defence and the sudden lack of heart in a few of those in red.
76'—Very, very close to a second Germany goal. Muller is set away down the right side and he pings over a fine first-time cross along the ground...but Gomez is an inch away from making contact.
75'—What have Portugal got in their locker then? Some very expensive talent out there in the front three for them, but they haven't exactly over-utilised them so far this evening. They need to push forward with more regularity now; perhaps sacrificing a central midfielder for Ricardo Quaresma would free up Ronaldo to play more freely and centrally?
74'—And now, Miroslav Klose has been told to sit down again. Poor him, but great news for Germany.
72'—GOALLLL!!!!! GERMANY 1 PORTUGAL 0 Mario Gomez has scored!! Moments before he might have been substituted, he rises highest in the box an heads home back across the goalkeeper into the far corner. Fantastic header.
Martin Rose/Getty Images 70'—Great run and strength from Muller, but his cross this time is overhit and runs out of play on the far side. Germany ready to make a sub now themselves, with Klose about ready to replace, presumably, Gomez.
68'—Muller fizzes a low cross over from the right again, not the first excellent delivery he has provided, and Rui Patricio does really well to come and collect. Boateng is then booked for pulling back Ronaldo.
Portugal sub: Oliveira on for Postiga
67'—The crowd have livened up again and are in full voice. Can Germany respond in kind by picking up the tempo?
64'—GREAT DEFENDING. Ronaldo is in on goal and ready to pull the trigger on the left side of the area, but out of nowhere comes Jerome Boateng with a fantastic sliding challenge to deny the Real Madrid man. Brilliant challenge, but he's hurt himself in doing so and requires treatment.
63'—Raul Meireles and Holger Badstuber come together on the byline and the former appears to catch the latter in the face with a closed fist. Nothing particularly noted by any official and the German defender doesn't make too much of it.
60'—Half an hour to go and we're still goalless in Lviv. Germany are building up a head of steam again, but they are oddly lacking in the penalty area today. A clinical edge missing from the Germans.
59'—Joao Moutinho is getting some treatment after a bit of a late stamp on his foot, accidental supposedly, from Sami Khedira. Fabio Coentrao now goes into the book for a late and risky sliding tackle on Muller.
Martin Rose/Getty Images 56'—Wasted chance for Germany. Portugal very sloppily give the ball away in their own half, but Podolski's cross—possibly intended for Muller coming in off the far post—is nodded well over the bar by Gomez.
55'—The game has entered a bit of a lull after a fairly frantic start to the second half, and the crowd has quietened accordingly. We need a dreadful challenge, a mazy run or a wondergoal to spice things up again.
52'—Ozil gets room to cross from the right side as Portugal fail to effectively clear a set piece, but the cross just floats over the head of Podolski.
50'—Now Portugal are in the ascendency, Pepe releasing Ronaldo down the left. His cross is headed away by Hummels again, but it's a corner.
Neuer flaps at it a little but Germany get it clear.
48'—A first effort on goal this half for Ronaldo. He shoots early from the left edge of the box, but Neuer has no trouble in gathering it up.
47'—Good skill from Nani who skips past Lahm on the right, but his chipped cross is diving headed out by Mats Hummels. Good defending from the Dortmund centre-back.
46'—Germany immediately on the front foot as Thomas Muller causes havoc down the right, crossing early towards Podolski. The Polish-born forward's shot is blocked and it rebounds to Muller again, but his next attempt is cut out by Meireles.
45'— Off we go then for the second half.
Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images We're about ready for the second half then. Germany certainly have plenty of ammunition on their bench to push for the win, but what will Portugal aim for in this half? Will a single point from this game do them, or will they want to try for the full three?
Well it was a tactical affair in the first half for sure, with both sides concentrating first and foremost on not conceding soft opportunities rather than creating goalscoring ones.
Pepe's effort there at the end of the first half was as close as either team have come to a goal, but it clearly bounced on the line and not beyond.
HALF TIME IN LVIV
Germany 0 Portugal 0
44'—PEPE HITS THE BAR!! Portugal win a corner and it breaks to Pepe in the box who controls the ball and thumps it goalwards, striking the underside of the crossbar and watching on in hope and horror as it bounces down, onto the line, and out to safety.
44'—Now the German fans aren't happy because the stadium announcer is threatening to abandon the game if they continue throwing their paper cups onto the pitch!
41'—Podolski suddenly turns on the afterburners down the left and tries to cross, but Meireles blocks the attempt.
Up the other end on the counter attack, Nani is clipped on the heels by Holger Badstuber who is booked for his troubles, but the German fans are furious with the decision as Nani ran on another ten yards before collapsing dramatically to the floor.
The set piece delivery is woeful and Neuer takes it easily.
41'—Joao Moutinho scurries forward with the ball at his feet as Portugal look to fashion a rare opening, but in the end his shot from 30 yards is speculative at best and rather wasteful at worst. Goal kick.
39'—Much more dangerous from Germany. Pinball crossing in the box sees Muller cross from the right, Podolski drive it back from the opposite flank and then Muller divert the ball well wide as it came back to him.
38'—Well, Germany perhaps need a bit of extra inspiration. Toni Kroos, Marco Reus and Mario Goetze might all provide plenty of skill and creativity in that attacking trio behind Gomez in the second half.
There is also the small matter of 63-goal national hero Miroslav Klose on the bench.
37'—Sami Khedira shoots. Unsurprisingly, given he has scored just once in almost 30 games for Germany, he does not find the target.
Joern Pollex/Getty Images 35'—Gomez bursts into the box with a sudden and unexpected turn of pace, but Pepe gets his considerable frame between player and ball and lets Gomez bundle him to the ground. Free kick Portugal, ten minutes to go until half time.
32'—Just for a moment it looks like the game might open up for Portugal as Moutinho feeds Ronaldo down the left channel, but Boateng quickly got across to close him down.
30'—BIG CHANCE, POOR SHOT. Podolski finds himself in space, dead centre of the penalty area, but he leans back as he tries a first time shot and skies his effort miles over the bar. A disappointing finish from the soon-to-be Arsenal forward.
29'—Joao Pereira whips a good cross in from the right hand side, but Mats Hummels stands firm to head the ball away. Three in the box then for Portugal, too.
28'—No real chances as yet for either side. Both teams probing but looking fairly solid in defence. Maybe a 40 yard drive into the top corner is asked for? Meireles, Schweinsteiger, fancy it?
25'—Ah, there's Nani. He feeds Ronaldo who cuts in on his right foot to shoot—but his effort is blocked at close quarters.
24'—Podolski eventually drills the free kick—but straight into the onrushing wall. We haven't really seen a good free kick yet in Euro 2012.
23'—GERMANY HAVE THE BALL IN THE NET—BUT THE WHISTLE HAD GONE! The referee had already blown his whistle some time beforehand for a Germany free kick, but maybe they would have preferred to continue? Mario Gomez spins and shoots, and the ball ends up in the net but there's no effort from the goalkeeper to stop it.
19'—Now the Germans do try to build up with more care. They enjoy an extended spell on the ball, but too little movement—not a common sight in this German team usually—means they cannot open up the Portugal defence.
18'—Is Nani even playing? We've seen nothing of him in this opening almost-20-minutes.
17'—Ronaldo gets his first chance to attack the German defence and does well to drill a low cross over the six yard box, but nobody in red can quite get anything on the ball.
Joern Pollex/Getty Images 15'—Sloppy passing from Germany almost puts themselves under pressure, and in the end Neuer can only knock the ball out of play for a throw in.
Both teams are attacking at pace, but too fast to build any real great openings.
12'—YELLOW CARD! Helder Postiga is shown the first yellow card of the game as he slid in late on Manuel Neuer, who came out of his box to clear the ball.
A little dramatic, but certainly a foul.
10'—Mesut Ozil almost thinks he's in as he exchanges passes with Podolski inside the box, but in the end Portugal get players back and crowd him out.
The largely-German crowd here are extremely vociferous in their support and grow more raucous every time their side approach the Portuguese penalty box.
9'—PODOLSKI SHOOTS! A moment of excitement for the Germans as they pull the ball back from the right side, behind Gomez who was running through the centre—but Lukas Podolski is running onto the ball from the left edge of the box and he drills it low and hard, first time. Rui Patricio makes the save at the second attempt.
6'—Germany build constantly through the centre with Bastian Schweinsteiger always free to receive possession.
Thomas Muller chops down Fabio Coentrao as Portugal try to counter and the French referee signals a free kick.
4'—It's a fast-paced start to the game from both sides, who are looking to get the ball wide and forward as quickly as possible.
2'—Fabio Coentrao rampages through the centre with the ball and drives at the defence, before his pass is cut out for a corner.
German fans throw paper cups at the Portuguese players attempting to take the set piece, and after a short delay, Manuel Neuer makes an authoritative punch clear.
1'—First effort on goal! A neat cross in from Jerome Boateng from the right is met by Mario Gomez in the centre, and his header is glanced towards goal but well saved.
0'—KICK OFF! Portugal get us under way in the second Group B fixture.
Germany's team, under Low, have been building towards this tournament for some time. Ever since the World Cup in 2006 under Jurgen Klinsmann, arguably.
Is it their time? We shall see.
As always, it's national anthems time before kick off. Portugal first as the designated "away" team.
We all looking forward to this match then? It should be a cracker.
In a little more than five minutes the game will be kicking off and we'll soon be one step closer to knowing who will be pushing to qualify from Group B.
Is experience a crucial factor in these early European Championships games? Germany's starting 11 have a whopping 493 caps between them at international level, and 113 goals.
By contrast, Portugal's starting side have amassed 452 caps and 84 goals.
Lars Baron/Getty Images In Group A yesterday Greece came from behind to draw 1-1 with joint-hosts Poland as both sides had a man sent-off.
In the second match of the day, Russia controlled the game but left it late to absolutely secure an eventual 4-1 win over Czech Republic, with Alan Dzagoev in particular stealing the show.
Group B, also known as the "Group of Death", got going earlier on today with that 1-0 win for Denmark over one of the pre-tournament favourites, the Netherlands.
A win now for either one of Portugal or Germany will make things very uncomfortable indeed for the Dutch, who will be hoping this game ends in a draw.
We're only a little more than half an hour from kick off, so not much time to get yourselves settled after the last match but we'll have a quick recap of what has happened so far in Euro 2012.
Team news? Right!
Germany: Neuer, Boateng, Hummels, Badstuber, Lahm, Khedira, Schweinsteiger, Muller, Ozil, Podolski, Gomez
Portugal: Patrício, Joao Pereira, Alves, Pepe, Coentrao, Veloso, Moutinho, Meireles, Nani, Postiga, Ronaldo
Rui Patricio gets the nod then for Portugal in goal, and the rest of the team is as expected. A 4-3-3 system with plenty of pace in the wide areas; the whole tournament is waiting and watching to see what Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo brings to Euro 2012.
Germany have a phenomenally strong XI; seven of that starting line up played in the Champions League final for Bayern Munich last month, two play for Real Madrid who won La Liga this term and another, Mats Hummels, won the Bundesliga and German Cup double with Borussia Dortmund.
Hi all and welcome to the second live game of the evening from Euro 2012, which is between Germany and Portugal.
Group B's opening fixture has thrown up a result and a half for us: Denmark beating Netherlands by 1-0.
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