Taking his place as German captain for this game was Michael Ballack, the Chelsea player with plenty to give and always with much to provide. A great leader for the German side, Ballack is also now settling down well in the UK as a part of the Chelsea side so is now strong for both club and country.

Fielded in the game were the following eleven players for Germany:

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

Twelve substitutes were named for Germany, the substitutes were as follows: Enke, Friedrich, Westermann, Rolfes, Odonkor, Trochowski, Schweinsteiger, Borowski, Neuville, Adler, Hitzlsperger, Kuranyi.

The first change did not come until the 55th minute for Germany, Schweinsteiger came on to replace Fritz and slotted in well in the German squad. Schweinsteiger was a good substitution for Germany, Hitzlsperger followed in place of Gomez in the 75th minute and then last to be used was Kuranyi in the 90th minute when he came onto the field of play for Klose.

Zurawski was named to be the captain of the Poland squad for this game, he was replaced at half time but captain for half the game nonetheless. Having spent three years at Celtic in Scotland, Maciej Zurawski now plays his club football for Larissa F.C. in Greece where he has scored six times in his first eleven games there.

Fielded in the game were the following eleven players for Poland:

Boruc
Wasilewski, Zewlakow, Bak, Golanski
Dudka, Lewandowski, Lobodzinski, Zurawski
Krzynowek, Smolarek

Twelve substitutes were named for Poland, the substitutes were as follows: Fabianski, Jop, Wawrzyniak, Saganowski, Zahorski, Kokoszka, Piszczek, Pazdan, Roger, Gargula, Murawski.

Zurawski was the first to be replaced for Poland, after his first half miss it should have come as no surprise that he would be taken off and replaced by Roger, second on was Piszczek after 65 minutes when he came on for Lobodzinski and the last Polish substitution was made on 75 minutes as Saganowski took to the field in place of Golanski. Three substitutes are possible and three were made, carrying on with the trend of managers in this tournament to use all available substitutes.

There is quite a torrid history between the two countries of Germany and Poland, as the game began it was obvious that a win meant everything to the players and there was a great deal of pride at stake here. In the early stages of the game held at Klagenfurt it all started out extremely evenly; both teams played attacking football and each looked as likely to score as the other. Podolski was hugely dangerous for Germany, and when the man scored after a mere 20 minutes it really should have come as no surprise to Poland. The Polish defence was all over the place, playing extremely high up the field and this of course is not a very good plan when playing against the pace of the Germans. The Germans were cruising through the Polish defence all too easily, cutting them wide open every time the ball was brought up the field but this was something that came to a grinding holt shortly after the first goal. The Poles realised the error of their ways and their defending soon became a lot slicker upon the realisation that their opening strategy had not worked out very well at all for them.

As the game progressed the Polish side played well; the goal had been caused by the attacking excellence of two Polish born players (Klose and Podolski), the eleven men in the Polish red certainly did not disgrace themselves however. The German side always looked as though they would comfortably win the game, there were however a number of strong Polish attacks in which Poland could easily have equalised. Zurawski had the best chance of the game for Poland, a clear cut chance to score where he really should have done better. Unfortunately for Poland, the shot of Zurawski went embarrassingly wide and the short lived panic was soon over for Germany.

Podolski secured the win for Germany when he scored a second in the 72nd minute, it was a well taken finish and a supreme volley that rattled the back of the net and did in fact come shooting back out again such was the power of the strike. The ball fell fortunately to Podolski, Gomez had swiped at it; miss hitting it in the process sending the ball looping over inch perfect into the path of Podolski for him to fire home his second. Podolski easily could have had a hat-trick, he had a number of excellent shots; most notably a chance for a third which went just over the bar. Podolski was definitely the man of the match, he was an excellent player in the game and aside from his scoring of two goals he also contributed magnificently well in all other areas also. Podolski was excellent in defence, he was darting back and forth up the field all game and never did his energy levels appear to dwindle.

The two goals of Podolski were the greatest moments of the game, Ballack could have had a goal for himself however but saw his shot supremely saved by the safe hands of Artur Boruc. Boruc had a good game in the Polish goal, he had plenty to save but Jens Lehmann had little to do up the other end of the field. One notable save was required of Lehmann, this came quite late on in the game and he did well to remain strong in goal having not been needed for much of the game. Poland were quite good at getting the ball up the field, they didn't ever really know what to do with the ball when in the final third however and their hesitating often lead to the ball being taken back by the superior German side.

Germany played well in their first game of the competition; it was an expected victory for them and one that was duly deserved. Poland didn't play badly, Germany was definitely the better team however and always the win looked to be in the bag for Germany in this one. The end result did not flatter Germany, they could have scored more but then again had Poland equalised with the chance of Zurawski then it could have been a completely different story. Germany is a decent side, I don't think it's one that is strong enough to win the tournament but then again they could well prove me wrong yet. I still feel Portugal is the best team in the tournament, there is a great deal of talent in this German side however and if all the players play to the best of their ability in each and every game then Germany will certainly stand a strong chance of winning this UEFA Euro 2008 competition.

Final Score: Germany 2 - 0 Poland