Germany's Mario Gomez heads home against Portugal in the Group B Euro 2012 match in Lviv, Ukraine. Photograph: Kerim Okten/EPA
It took a long time coming but there was a sense of inevitability thatGermany would eventually wear Portugal down. Their slow, methodical approach had failed to deliver reward and Mario Gomez was close to being withdrawn when one more patient buildup yielded a precious goal for the Bayern Munich striker and the breakthrough Germany so badly needed. Miroslav Klose, who was ready to replace Gomez, returned to the bench and Germany's Euro 2012 campaign was up and running.
It was a wonderful header from Gomez at a point when Germany appeared to be running out of ideas against a Portugal team who waited far too long to play with any real ambition. Chances came and went for Portugal in the closing 10 minutes as the substitute Silvestre Varela shot straight at Manuel Neuer before Nani, whose floated cross had clipped the top of the crossbar moments earlier, saw his stabbed effort from close-range blocked by Holger Badstuber.
Germany, however, did enough to deserve victory on the balance of play and face Holland in Kharkiv on Wednesday knowing that another three points could secure their place in the quarter-finals and, depending on the result between Portugal and Denmark in Lviv, eliminate the World Cup runners-up from the competition at the same time. For Portugal, like Holland, the pressure is on and they will need to see much more from Cristiano Ronaldo when they meet the Danes.
Ronaldo cut a frustrated figure and could not get off the pitch quickly enough at the final whistle. In front of the Real Madrid manager, José Mourinho, Ronaldo was on the fringes of the game all evening, seeing far too little of the ball and unable to conceal his frustration with his team-mates at times. There was one moment in the first half when Helder Postiga mis-read a pass and Ronaldo stopped in his tracks, threw his hands in the air and shook his head. It was that sort of night for the world's most expensive footballer.
Gomez's evening had also been a little frustrating, the forward denied a goal in the first half, when the French referee, Stéphane Lannoy, needlessly pulled play back to penalise Raul Meireles for a foul on Sami Khedira. Gomez had an early header from Jérôme Boateng's cross saved, but thereafter there were too many occasions when Germany got into decent wide positions but failed to deliver the final ball.
That all changed, however, when Bastian Schweinsteiger fed Khedira in the 72nd minute and the midfielder whipped in a centre that took a deflection before reaching Gomez, who had pulled of the shoulder of Pepe, leaving him up against the right-back Joao Pereira. There was still much to do but Gomez sent a powerful header back across goal and inside the far post to the delight of the Germany supporters, who had been warned by the stadium announcer in the first half that the game could be abandoned if they continued to throw what appeared to be rolled-up paper on to the pitch.
Joachim Löw was delighted with the result. "This is the start of the European Championship, it's like an F1 race but without a warm-up," the Germany coach said. "You have to be right there straight away because every team is incredibly strong, there are no teams like in the World Cup where you can acclimatise yourself. Portugal were right there straight away. I think you feel in this game both teams were quite tense, especially after the Holland and Denmark result. Because if you lost, you knew you had a lot to do."
Löw claimed that he would have been happier if Holland had got something from the Denmark fixture. "I would have been preferred it was a draw because it's now a situation for a very strong Holland team [where] they have their backs against the wall, they have to play all or nothing. If they don't win the second game it will be very difficult for them."
Although this Germany side is similar to the one that looked so impressive at the last World Cup – eight of the players that started here were in the XI that lined up against Australia in the first group game in South Africa two years ago – much has changed in terms of the way they seek to control games. A team that was so dangerous on the counterattack now likes to monopolise the ball, pinning opponents back and probing for an opening. At times it was too slow and played into the hands of Portugal. "I said at half-time we had to increase our rhythm and play faster and make the tempo that little bit higher," Löw said.
Thomas Müller and Lukas Podolski both squandered decent chances in the first half but Portugal came within inches of taking the lead on the stroke of half-time, when Germany failed to deal with Meireles's corner and Pepe swept in a shot from 12 yards that struck the crossbar, with Neuer well beaten, and bounced on the goalline.
The game became a little ragged in the second half until Gomez finally added a touch of class with a 23rd international goal that leaves Portugal and Ronaldo with much to do to stay in the competition. "Of course I'm sad about the result," Paulo Bento, the Portugal coach said. "Germany dominated a bit, they had more possession. They controlled the game but we still defended good. Then, in the last minutes, we did everything we could to create chances but we didn't score. If we want to advance, we have to win in the second game, there's no other way of thinking."
