Preview: Germany - Portugal

And so it begins

 Germany's first match of EURO 2012 - New fodder for critics or will Die Mannschaft start successfully?

Germany's first match at the 2012's Euros is happening tonight in Lwiw against Christiano Ronaldo's Portugal and much is at stake for Joachim Löw's team. After their two international friendlies - a 5:2 defeat against Switzerland and a 2:0 victory against Israel - which left much to be desired we will we if the team can cope with all the praise they received beforehand, declaring them as one of the favorites for the title, next to Spain and Holland.

Twitter's @dan_bu just posted, that Löw is leaning towards Gomez and BVB's Hummels (yay!!) in the starting eleven over birthday boy Klose and Arsenal's Mertesacker. The starting eleven might look like this: 

Neuer - Boateng, Hummels, Badstuber, Lahm - Schweinsteiger, Khedira - Müller, Özil, Podolski - Gomez. 

A fairly conventional starting unit, the biggest matchup is clearly Bayern's Jerome Boateng vs. Christiano Ronaldo. Although I can't stand him, he is one of the five best players in the world right now who crumbled under the great pressure being Portugal's savior for the last couple of tournaments. I'm really looking forward to the way Ronaldo's Real teammates Özil and Khedira will perform, Özil as the creative mastermind and passing genius and Khedira as the calm ballhog creating spaces for the German forwards; he might even have a bigger impact than Schweinsteiger who isn't at 100% after his shoulder injury last year. I also guess that Klose is not at  full strengh after he sat out most of Lazio's matches at the end of the season and so Gomez is the obvious choice up front, after he scored 26 goals for Vize-Bayern (sorry, couldn't help it).

As for Portugal, I can't say very much about them, to be honest. Of course the main focus will be on Christiano Ronaldo, who had an outstanding season for Real scoring-wise, just after Messi's epic year. But next to him, it's really hard to get a pitcture of this team. Nani seems to be in shape to start the match, who always is a threat on the offensive side, as is Porto's Joao Moutinho. You should also pay attention to Real's Fabio Coentrao, one of the up and coming stars for his side, who played a crucial rule in Madrid's title run this season. Portugal lost their last friendly 3:1 against Turkey heading into the tournament, so there are doubts on their side as well.

Germany is the favorite for this match but I would not underestimate Portugal for thy have one of the tournaments best midfield and according to ESPN the Euro's most important player in their lines. 

Germany is going to win 2-1.

Update (16:38): Kroos to replace Schweinsteiger in the starting XI. (Sky Sport News)

Update (20:12): Screw you, Sky Sport News, Schweinsteiger will start!!