Macho was always going to be a strong test for Germany going into this game, he's an excellent goalkeeper and can often make a large number of fantastic saves. The Austrian side on the whole is pretty young and fairly average; Macho and Ivanschitz are however two of the key players in this youthful Austrian side.

Macho
Pogatetz, Stranzl, Aufhauser, Hiden, Garics
Fuchs, Korkmaz, Ivanschitz, Harnik
Hoffer

The following eleven substitutes were named for Austria: Manninger, Vastic, Katzer, Standfest, Ramazan, Kienast, Leitgeb, Linz, Gercaliu, Säumel, Patock.

Leitgeb took to the field in the 55th minute in place of Hiden, next on was Saumel for Aufhauser in the 63rd minute; last but not least a final replacement came in the 67th minute as Kienast came on for Harnik.

Gomez has had a great season for his club, he's not been so strong for his country however and Germany would once more be looking to Podolski and Ballack to provide the inspiration. Ballack did just that with a super free kick, Podolski however had a pretty quiet game by his standards and will surely have been a little disappointed with his performance here.

Lehmann
Friedrich, Metzelder, Mertesacker, Lahm
Podolski, Ballack, Frings, Fritz
Gomez, Klose

The following ten substitutes were named for Germany: Neuville, Borowski, Hitzlsperger, Rolfes, Kuranyi, Enke, Trochowski, Odonkor, Adler, Westermann.

Germany left it until the 60th minute before making any changes, Hitzlsperger came on for the ineffective Gomez and played a much better game than Gomez ever had. Neuville replaced Podolski in the 83rd minute, a final change came in the 90th minute when Borowski came on for Fritz.

A win against Germany here for Austria and the Germans would once more be heading home empty handed. Germany could have made history here; no team has ever dropped out at the group stage of the European Championship three times running before. It wouldn't have been a good way to have entered the record books but still would have set a new record nonetheless. Germany won the European Championship when it was hosted in England in 1996, nothing has happened since then however and aside from reaching the final of the 2002 World Cup and finishing in third place in the 2006 World Cup; the international football record of Germany has not been too exciting of late. Three times Germany has won the World Cup, three times Germany has won the European Championship also; and going into this game it was Germany that was expected to walk away with the win.

I'm not a huge fan of the German football game; I've always found the sides style to be a little bland and this game was certainly no exception. The first half came and went without any goals being scored; it was a fairly unexciting game of football and other than the two managers being sent off there was nothing really to talk about. Austria played an extremely average 45 minutes of football and the German game wasn't much better either. It was likely that whoever won this game would meet Portugal in the quarter finals; on the evidence of this performance neither side would stand any chance whatsoever against the Portuguese. Co-hosts Austria always looked rather nervous in front of goal, almost as if they didn't know quite what to do with the ball and should really have shown a lot more tenacity in the final third of the field. To score goals risks are generally required, neither side was prepared to take any risks whatsoever here and instead both sides seemed content in doing very little. Germany knew that a point was enough to secure them a place in the final eight, Austria on the other hand had to win and never did this team look likely of doing so. Germany ran a bit of a risk going in at half time with the score line at 0-0; one moment of weakness in the second half and they could have been heading home to Deutschland, they seemed to know what they were doing though and to be honest this Austrian side looked as though it would never be capable of scoring any goals no matter how many minutes of football were played.

In the second half the Austrian team continued to look lazy, the balls they played were generally rather useless and Germany had a good number of chances to attack. A moment of inspiration came from Germany when Ballack was given the opportunity to fire home from a free kick. The German team has never lost when Ballack has scored, he's a great player and we know from his Chelsea season that he's got a ferocious shot on him. Ballack's 49th minute goal was one of the best I've seen from Euro 2008; the ball started off low and ended up high into the back of the Austrian net, with time it grew in pace and lifted in height and by the time it reached the Austrian goal it was absolutely unstoppable. It was a stunning effort from Ballack, the finest moment in fact from an otherwise uninspiring 90 minutes of football. Ballack will have been pleased with that goal, it was taken right from the top draw and will undoubtedly go down as one of the best goals of the tournament.

Late on in the game and Germany could have grabbed a couple more, after Germany scored 4 minutes into the second half the Austrian team more or less went to sleep and you could see that the players saw no way of getting back into the game. Shoulders dropped when Germany drew first blood, this is a pretty useless Austrian team and the players are seemingly well aware of the fact that they are one of the worst teams in the tournament. Were it not for the fine hands of Macho towards the end of the game then Germany could well have finished with 3 or even 4. Macho had a great game, so many times he denied Germany and he was in fact one of the few players on the pitch to put in a good performance on this day. Even great players such as Podolski and Gomez did very little in this game, Gomez was in fact absolutely useless and this confidence currently seems to be completely shot. Gomez actually missed what should have been an easy goal in the first half, he's not in the right mindset whatsoever for this tournament and despite scoring 28 goals for his club in the season he now seems to be a mere shadow of his former self. He's been out of action for a while, it looks as though he wasn't ready for a return yet and on the evidence of his performance in this game I would have to say that he shall be taking no further part in Euro 2008 as he's just a bit of a waste of space.

At the expense of Austria and Poland, Germany shall now be heading into the last eight of Euro 2008. A quarter final place is probably more than they deserve really, aside from in he first game of the tournament this German side has been absolutely awful and I fail to see how they shall progress much further in this tough international competition. Portugal should overcome Germany with ease, Cristiano Ronaldo is a great player and one that can cause problems for absolutely anyone. Germany have the likes of Ballack and Podolski; the quarter final is not going to be easy for them however and I see a German exit coming extremely soon. Austria did not put up much of a fight in this game, a win would have seen them through to the quarter finals and yet there just didn't seem to be any fight left in this side whatsoever by the end of the 90 minutes. Austria were the no hopers of Euro 2008, they've lived up to their tag and exited hopelessly out of the Euro 2008 tournament. Good luck to Austria for the future; it's a young team and I see them gaining in excellence within the next few years but now is just not their time. This German team seems to be one that is in decline, whilst Austria is on the up Germany is on the way back down and yet it is Germany that is heading for the quarter finals of Euro 2008. Expect to see this German team crash and burn at the quarter final level, Portugal should have a lot of fun with the mediocre joke of a Germany side.

Final Score: Austria 0 - 1 Germany