Tenero, Switzerland - Germany demonstrated they are "a force to reckoned with" in eliminating Portugal from Euro 2008, coach Joachim Loew said Friday. Germany bounced back from two indifferent performances to defeat Portugal 3-2 in Basle Thursday evening to set up a semi-final encounter with either Croatia or Turkey.
Loew said Germany found their winning tournament mentality in downing Portugal - but revealed the victory had cost him a bottle of red wine in a bet with assistant coach Hansi Flick.
Flick, in charge of coaching duties on the touchline while the banned Loew was watching from the stands, had bet that Germany would score from a free-kick.
He was then delighted to see Germany score twice from the set-pieces through Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack.
That was an area of defensive weakness the Germans had planned to exploit in the Portugal side, Loew said at the team's Swiss camp in Tenero.
"We showed in this game that we are a factor in this tournament and that the strong Portuguese weren't able to withstand the pressure of a quarter-final," he said.
"Our team was very focused mentally. We put pressure on and scored two goals. We showed that we are a force to be reckoned with."
After the 2-1 defeat to Croatia and hard-fought 1-0 win over Austria, Loew said the decision was taken to change tactics to play with a five-man midfield in a 4-2-3-1 system.
"We realized we had to make small corrections for the Portugal game," he said.
"They have three midfielders in the centre plus wings. We knew we had to fight back in the centre and to close the wings as well. Our basic system is 4-4-2, but we needed a strong central midfield. It worked well yesterday. It was the right measure for the game."
Loew was pleased with the performances of Bayer Leverkusen's Simon Rolfes and Stuttgart's Thomas Hitzlsperger who both started for the first time and helped snuff out Portugal's midfield threat.
"Rolfes has a way of playing which fits our philosophy," Loew said.
"He plays great vertical passes, is good man against man, can play the ball up front. He doesn't play spectacularly but is efficient. He can make the game fast. He is a very reliable player."
Loew may have Torsten Frings back in action for the semi-final in Basle on Wednesday as he recovers from a cracked rib. The Werder Bremen player was due to train Friday with his chest taped but would be kept out of any tackling.
If Frings returns, either Hitzlsperger or Rolfes would probably have to make way.
Loew also praised man-of-the-match Bastian Schweinsteiger who scored one goal and provided the free-kicks for the two others to make amends for a red card against Croatia and a one-match suspension.
"He knew after the Croatia game that he owed something to us all. He did very well," he said.
Loew admitted he was "very tense, much more than on the sideline", while watching the match from the stands. He was not allowed to perform any coaching duties and only permitted to enter the dressing room 10 minutes after the match.
"The joy and atmosphere and relief to have reached the semi-final was big. The players were tired from the fight but very relieved as well," he said.
Loew revealed he accepted the bet with Flick because the team had not been effective on free-kicks during the group stage, although he shared his assistant's view that the team could exploit set-pieces.
Flick had said after the game: "We had a little bet running. I was certain because the Portuguese take a lot of risks on set-pieces."
