Germans light up Gdansk

Euro 2012 has been waiting for a team to really stamp its authority on this tournament; and last night Germany grabbed that opportunity in hugely convincing style with a display so powerful and confident they could rightly overtake Spain as favourites to win the trophy.

Joachim Low rested his entire front three in Gdansk but still saw his team romp to a 4-2 victory — with goals from Philipp Lahm, Sami Khedira, Miroslav Klose and Marco Reus — that was a real statement of intent and possibly the most complete display of the tournament so far, and certainly one of the most entertaining.

When you look at the statistics of this German team it’s hard not to be impressed; they won every single one of their 10 qualifying matches to reach Euro 2012 and every single group game once they arrived here. Last night’s win means they have now posted 15 straight victories in a row in competitive football and in overcoming Greece, the team that has frustrated so many opponents in recent years and lost just two of their previous 24 matches themselves, they marked themselves out as something special.