GDANSK, Poland – Greek football fans whistled and jeered at Angela Merkel, but the German chancellor had the last laugh, jumping to her feet in joy every time her team scored. After a year in which the Greek economy imploded and Germany insisted on deep austerity measures in return for bailout funds, Greeks were yearning for a victory on the playing field. It would've restored some pride and allowed them to have the upper hand, even just for a day. It wasn't meant to be. In their European Championship quarterfinal match Friday, as in the crisis-hit eurozone economy, German influence proved tough for Greece to overcome and the final score was 4-2 in favor of Germany. The Germans, who will have to wait until Sunday to find out their semifinal opponents, have won all five European Championship quarterfinals they have played and they have reached the final on the four previous occasions. In a one-sided contest, Germany took the lead through captain Philipp Lahm late in the first half and survived a scare 10 minutes after the restart when rank outsiders Greece leveled with a breakaway goal from Giorgos Samaras. But the three-time European champion was in no mood for an upset and three goals in 13 minutes kept it on track for their first title in 16 years. Greece cut the deficit with a late Dimitris Salpingidis penalty. The Greeks badly missed the creative midfielder and captain Giorgos Karagounis. Germany's Sami Khedira volleyed in on the hour to settle any nerves. Then Klose headed in another four minutes later with his 64th international goal, leaving him four short of Gerd Mueller's German all-time record of 68. With the Greeks pummelled into submission, Reus struck in the 74th before Salpingidis converted a spot-kick a minute from time to claim a minor consolation. Loew gamble pays off Joachim Loew's bold decision to completely overhaul his forward line will be viewed as a resounding success. Replacing Mario Gomez, the tournament's joint top scorer, with Miroslav Klose and omitting the experienced Lukas Podolski and Thomas Mueller in favor of the relatively green Marco Reus and Andre Schuerrle may have raised eyebrows in some quarters. But Klose responded with his 64th international goal on his 120th appearance, while Schuerrle and especially Reus gave the Greek defense a torrid time, the latter crowning his seventh cap with a fine volleyed goal. The 23-year-old winger, who recently signed for German champion Borussia Dortmund, particularly caught the eye with his darting runs down the right and as well as a number of attempts on goal in the first half he also provided a neat layoff for Mesut Ozil. Loew's surprise starting lineup for the quarterfinal at Gdansk's PGE Arena underlined the depth in the German squad and it was an accomplished performance from a strong, physical team who will pose a stern test for Italy or England in the semifinals. “I had a feeling after three wins that we had to make some changes to breathe some fresh life into the team,” Loew told reporters. “The time was ripe to do something different. I think Miro and the others did it very well.” Klose added: “It's amazing if you look at how many good players can come off the bench and play. “We can now relax and watch the England-Italy match and see who we're going to be playing against.” Coach fuming Germany coach Joachim Loew is out to unearth a mole in the camp who has been tipping off German media about his starting lineups at Euro 2012, the players said Saturday. A day after Germany beat Greece, attacking midfielders Marco Reus and Andre Schuerrle revealed Loew had been unhappy with the lineups being leaked hours before their group games and again on Friday. “It is unfortunate that this has happened because at 1400 (local time) all the German media knew. There must be a leak,” said Schuerrle. — Agencies
