Germany defeated Portugal 1-0 in their opener of the EURO 2012. Striker Mario Gomez, who scored the lonely goal in the match, talks about the strategy, the title drought of the german team and the next match against the netherlands.
UEFA.com: The strategy against Portugal; was this just a cleverly played match, or did you have some initial problems here?
Mario Gomez: Well a little bit of both, and although we had some luck, we also showed some potential. So it was a mixture of everything. It was a really tough match. You could see that Portugal is not a team that you can easily take three points from; Portugal are a very strong side. It was a very difficult and very competitive match. We saw two teams that at the start were trying to figure each other out. We tried to win the match, and that was the most important thing in hindsight. We know about our potential and that we can play better. It´s good that we won the first match, but we know that many things had not been as we wanted them to be.
UEFA.com: Germany hasn't won a major title in the last 16 years. Do you talk about this within the team? Do you feel any pressure because of that?
Gomez: No we don't talk about the last 16 years, because the current squad has nothing to do with the last 16 years. Maybe with the last five or six years, but we have lots of new lads who are playing in their first big tournament. We want to be successful with this team. It´s going to be difficult of course, as there are ten, twelve or even all the teams here that want to achieve that. And so it’s difficult to plan to be successful and to win titles. You can have it as an objective, and that’s our goal here. But there are many other teams that want a different result, so it will be a very difficult tournament.
UEFA.com: As you said, Portugal played in their style, and against the Netherlands you will face a different style. What do you expect from the game against the Netherlands? How do you think it will be for you offensively and defensively?
Gomez: It will be another very hard encounter. The Netherlands have a very strong side despite the fact they lost their first match. I think they produced lots of goal-scoring chances in their first match, but they didn't manage to convert them, and in football you are punished for that. So it will be a very tight and exciting match. For us it doesn’t matter if the Netherlands won their [first] match or lost it, as we also want to win this second match.
UEFA.com: Last question, in this match against Portugal it was interesting to see how much respect the Portuguese team had for you. It is said that the German style of football has been refined. Do you tend to copy the Spanish style, or is it your own style that you have been creating? Is it different compared to the World Cup? How do you feel about that after the first match?
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Germany defeated Portugal 1-0 in their opener of the EURO 2012. Striker Mario Gomez, who scored the lonely goal in the match, talks about the strategy, the title drought of the german team and the next match against the netherlands.
UEFA.com: The strategy against Portugal; was this just a cleverly played match, or did you have some initial problems here?
Mario Gomez: Well a little bit of both, and although we had some luck, we also showed some potential. So it was a mixture of everything. It was a really tough match. You could see that Portugal is not a team that you can easily take three points from; Portugal are a very strong side. It was a very difficult and very competitive match. We saw two teams that at the start were trying to figure each other out. We tried to win the match, and that was the most important thing in hindsight. We know about our potential and that we can play better. It´s good that we won the first match, but we know that many things had not been as we wanted them to be.
UEFA.com: Germany hasn't won a major title in the last 16 years. Do you talk about this within the team? Do you feel any pressure because of that?
Gomez: No we don't talk about the last 16 years, because the current squad has nothing to do with the last 16 years. Maybe with the last five or six years, but we have lots of new lads who are playing in their first big tournament. We want to be successful with this team. It´s going to be difficult of course, as there are ten, twelve or even all the teams here that want to achieve that. And so it’s difficult to plan to be successful and to win titles. You can have it as an objective, and that’s our goal here. But there are many other teams that want a different result, so it will be a very difficult tournament.
UEFA.com: As you said, Portugal played in their style, and against the Netherlands you will face a different style. What do you expect from the game against the Netherlands? How do you think it will be for you offensively and defensively?
Gomez: It will be another very hard encounter. The Netherlands have a very strong side despite the fact they lost their first match. I think they produced lots of goal-scoring chances in their first match, but they didn't manage to convert them, and in football you are punished for that. So it will be a very tight and exciting match. For us it doesn’t matter if the Netherlands won their [first] match or lost it, as we also want to win this second match.
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UEFA.com: Last question, in this match against Portugal it was interesting to see how much respect the Portuguese team had for you. It is said that the German style of football has been refined. Do you tend to copy the Spanish style, or is it your own style that you have been creating? Is it different compared to the World Cup? How do you feel about that after the first match?
Gomez: Well, we feel that we came here to Poland to achieve our great objective of becoming European Champions, but as I said many other teams have the same goal. So you can’t say that it’s clear that Germany, Spain or even another team will become European champions. We have to work hard and improve day by day, we have to play better and get better as we go on in the tournament, and then I think we have a good chance with the quality we have. But no one is going to make it easy for us.
