Throughout Euro 2012, striker Kevin Kuranyi brings the experience of 52 German caps to bear on all the hot topics in an exclusive blog for R-Sport.
Today, the Dynamo Moscow striker predicts the outcome of the Germany-Italy semifinal and calls for understanding over Samir Nasri's heated exchange with a French reporter.
Hello!
In my last blog I called all of the quarterfinals correctly :-). Spain’s victory also wasn’t a surprise. But, to be honest, I didn’t expect it to be that close. Portugal did a really good job. In the second semifinal my favorite is Germany. My guess is they beat Italy 2-0 with goals by my friends Mario Gomez and Mesut Ozil.
Despite my belief that Germany will beat Italy in the end, I consider the Squadra Azzurra to be very strong. The guy standing out of the crowd sure is Andrea Pirlo. What a great player. And what a fantastic penalty against England! I tried the so-called Panenka chip before and succeeded – but only in training. To shoot like that in such a critical situation (and to be that calm!) takes a lot of courage. And I’m sure it wasn’t arrogance or anything but a signal to his teammates, telling them “we can still win this,” as they did.
Italy sure deserved the success but I was a little sad for the English team. They did a pretty good job, at least in the first 90 minutes. They were standing strong as one team. I think altogether they are on the right path.
The other quarterfinal that was especially interesting for me was the German one, of course. Joachim Low made four changes in the starting line-up – not really surprisingly though. Some guys definitely deserved a chance to play from the beginning. Marco Reus for example played a very good season. Plus the coach sees every player every day in training – he knows best, who to send to the pitch.
Some people say that the German defense might not be strong enough because Greece scored twice against Germany. But I’m not worried at all. A goal like the first one can happen – even to the best teams. And the second goal was only possible because Germany, being three goals ahead and the match being almost over, weren't perfectly concentrated any more. I understand that and I’m sure it wouldn’t have happened if the match had been closer.
Another subject many people were talking about is Samir Nasri's dispute with a journalist. He insulted him terribly. That should not happen. One should always try to be understanding and respectful with journalists. On the other hand emotions are an important part of football and mistakes can happen. I think Nasri should say sorry, but real punishment would be too much.
Now I’m looking forward to the last two matches. Some people asked me how Italy can win – but I sure won’t be giving advice on how to win against Germany!
Have fun and take care.
Kevin
