German midfield makes the semi's

Another good match this evening as the Germans saw off the Portugese pretenders in Basle on a patchwork quilt pitch that would have had Paddy Powell carted off by the men in white coats.

As predicted, Germany won the midfield battle with five strung across and one up front and got the opening goal through Schweinsteiger. They doubled their lead six minutes later, courtesy of Miroslav Klose, and that was really that. Portugal did respond through Nuno "Vampire" Gomez following a blocked Ronaldo effort but Michael Ballack headed an iffy third as he pushed his way to meet the ball and that was it pretty much all over. A Postiga header in the last couple of minutes made it interesting but the Germans were home and dry.

I have said this before, but this tournament is turning out to be pretty special. The quality of football has been exceptional and attacking ambitions have dominated proceedings. I expect more of the same tomorrow when my other tip, Croatia, face the dark horses from Turkey. The Turks were fortunate to beat the Czech Republic in my book, but they are here now and will see no reason why they can't emulate the Danes and the Greeks by going the whole hog. However, I think Croatia will beat them tomorrow. The Croats have a chip on their shoulder and genuinely fear no-one. What's more, they have the quality in their squad (Colin Kazim-Richards wouldn't cut the mustard) and I am expecting them to make the semi's and another showdown with the Hun. Skorjanic, I am with you!