Mario Gomez continued his great run at
Euro 2012 with two more goals as Germany took a giant step towards
the quarter-finals with an unsteady 2-1 victory on Wednesday over the
Netherlands, who are still alive to reach the knock-out stages.
After scoring Germany's sole goal in their opening victory in
group B over Portugal, Gomez scored in the 24th and 38th minutes for
a 2-0 Germany lead at Metalist Stadium in Kharkiv.
The Dutch pushed forward for all their Euro lives and Robin van
Persie pulled a goal back in the 73rd minute to make it 2-1. But it
was not enough.
The victory gives Germany six points atop group B while Denmark
and Portugal both have three points and the Netherlands remain alive
with zero points.
"We've opened the gates to the quarter-finals. It's in our hands,"
said German coach Joachim Loew.
"We beat Portugal, we beat the Netherlands, we have six points
after two matches, what else could you ask for?" said Gomez, who
leads the Euro 2012 scoring list along with Russian midfielder Alan
Dzagoev with three goals.
The Dutch left the pitch disappointed but they are still alive
with a victory over Portugal and help from Germany.
"Germany had a few problems after Robin van Persie scored but
unfortunately it didn't happen for us. We showed courage going
forward but not in defence," said Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk.
The game started in fantastic fashion as van Persie got behind the
German defence but could not beat German keeper Manuel Neuer in the
seventh minute from close range.
Germany were unfazed and had a chance of their own just a minute
later as Mesut Oezil struck his left foot blast off the near right
post.
Germany stormed ahead 1-0 in the 24th minute as Bastian
Schweinsteiger sent a perfectly-timed through ball to Gomez, who ran
onto the ball, turned and then beat Dutch keeper Maarten
Stekelenburg.
The Dutch keeper proved his star status 10 minutes later, making a
great save on a Holger Badstuber header from four yards out after a
free kick from Oezil.
But Germany doubled their lead in the 38th minute with the magical
Bayern connection as Schweinsteiger fed another pass into the box
where Gomez sent a powerful blast just inside the far left post for
his third goal in two games.
Van Marwijk reacted at half-time bringing in Rafael van der Vaart
and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar for van Bommel and Ibrahim Afellay.
Stekelenburg was forced to make a double save in the 52nd minute -
both times stopping German defender Mats Hummels.
The Dutch picked up the pressure shortly thereafter and German
keeper Neuer made a superb stop on van Persie in the 58th minute and
Jerome Boateng threw himself in the way of Wesley Sneijder's blast in
the 71st minute.
But the German defence could not stop van Persie from pulling a
goal back in the 73rd minute as the Arsenal attacker raced across the
edge of the area before unleashing a blast through the legs of
Badstuber and past Neuer to make it 2-1.
The Oranje were in essence taking shooting practice against Neuer.
But they could not overcome the Bayern Munich keeper.
The end of the match did have a negative for Germany as Boateng
saw yellow in the 87th minute - meaning the defender will miss
Germany's next contest with a second bookable offence in the
tournament.
"It was a dumb yellow card. I don't know if you can give, but he
did. The most important thing is that we won," said Boateng.
Germany's final group B match is Sunday against Denmark in Lviv
while the Netherlands take on Portugal in Kharkiv.
