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Low full of praise for German response

20/06/2008

Germany coach Joachim Low has praised his players after they bounced back from two disappointing performances to reach the semi-finals of Euro 2008.

The pre-tournament favourites beat Portugal 3-2 in Basel last night to progress past the last eight for the first time at a European Championships since 1996.

Bastian Schweinsteiger opened the scoring and Miroslav Klose extended the Germans' lead before Nuno Gomes pulled one back.

Michael Ballack headed a third, with Germany holding on for the win despite a late Helder Postiga strike.

The win followed a shock 2-1 group stage loss to Croatia and an unconvincing 1-0 defeat of Austria.

Low, who had to watch his team from the stands after being sent off during the Austria victory, said: "We had a lot of courage, had good combinations, moved well without the ball - all the things that we've done well in the past we did.

"Sitting behind the window in the stands was really difficult. It is too far from the action."

Low reserved special thanks to his assistant Hansi Flick, who he said did a "great job" from the dugout.

"There were some things during the match he did absolutely right, like putting Michael Ballack a bit further back when there was a phase where they put us under some pressure."

Ballack said the coaching team's tactical changes had paid off.

"We changed the system a bit with five in midfield and one striker less, we were very compact," the Chelsea midfielder said.

"Especially in the first half I thought we played fantastically against a very strong Portugal team until now."