Portugal U21 vs Germany U21, strong opening for the UEFA European U21 Championship!

The UEFA European U21 Championship has arrived at the point of the semifinals, tonight Portugal is facing Germany in the first round of the semifinals, at the Andruv Stadio in Olomouc, the host town of the group fixtures, most of them, at least, Germany has had the opportunity to play all their games in a diffrent location.

Is the first time the sides meet since the championship begun, the runner-ups of group A and winners of the Group B, having both secured a place in the Olympic Games for the next year.

Germany had a rather timid opening in groups, drawing the first match against Serbia, a poor result for the well rated team of Horst Hrubesch. They have managed to wash away the “embarrassment” after winning over Denmark by 3-0 in their favour. It was expected a pozitive result, ifd not asked for. They needed it. Right after that, even if most of us may have expected a glorious way towards the finals of the groups, they`ve managed again to only draw the game with the Czech Republic, the result that prevented them in winning the group, so they`ve finished second with Denmark placed first.

Coach Hrubesch seems very satisfied with the results the team managed to get so far, considers also that from now on they can relax because they`ve already achieved what they were hoping for, a place in the semifinals and a secure spot at the Olympics. Some consider the fixture tonight is the Germans punishment for not winning the Group and the punishment would be playing against Protugal, an underrated team.

Portugal on the other hand had a great opening match against England, winning by 1-0. That was a surprise, considering most were thinking England would be the victorious one of the Group, passing maybe undefeated through the Group and reaching the first place without major problems. It wasn`t quite like that, it seems Portugal had other plans in stored for England. That one, was the match that sent them into the semifinals and Olympics next year.

It was followed by two draws against Italy and Sweden. Rui Jorge, the Portugals coach, declared that one of their goals, securing a place for the Olympic Games has been accomplished but with that being settled, they think of more, now. It`s obvious they are determined to get the best of the chance they have now of passing maybe even over the semifinals. We`ll have to wait and see.

The idea is simple for the match today: Germany seems to be favourite for the win tonight and it would really be a surprise not seeing them qualifying for the final, but the strenght and unity of the Portugals cannot pass unnoticed and we can`t pretend it`s not real the fact that the Portugals are a real threat to the Germans in the game today.

Adana Demirspor

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Galatasaray

Willem II

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Groningen

Venlo

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Den Bosch

Bochum

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Hoffenheim

Jagiellonia

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Pogon Szczecin

Frosinone

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Salernitana

QPR

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Leeds

Real Sociedad

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Real Madrid

Montpellier

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Nantes

Gil Vicente

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Arouca