Germany and Italy will be battling it out for a spot in the Euro 2012 Final on July 1st when they meet at the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland on June 28th in a semi-final clash. The victor will carry on to play the winner of the Spain vs Portugal semi-final for the European Championship. Germany destroyed Greece 4-2 in their quarterfinal match while Italy beat England 4-2 in a penalty shootout after a goalless 120 minutes had been played. The bookmakers online are putting Germany as a big favorite, maybe too big, but we think they will grab the final spot in the end.

Germany may have to play without midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger as he’s suffering from an ankle injury. He tore ligaments in his right ankle back in February and said it hasn’t quite healed yet. He has been taking a break from team training and could still end up in the squad though. He said he won’t have a problem if manager Joachim Loew sits him out against Italy because he admits didn’t have a good game against Greece.

This is going to be a tough match for both teams. Italy will definitely be the worse for wear after going to a penalty shootout while Germany had an extra 48 hours to rest and/or prepare for the match. It’s hard to get a handle on how good Italy is on the attack. They dominated the game against England, mainly because the English let them, but they couldn’t put the ball in the net in open play.

It’s extremely doubtful that they’ll have as much time and room with the ball against Germany. This means they may play a completely different game and may take a more defensive approach, which would be a mistake. After playing attacking football in the quarterfinal they need to follow it up with the same tactics and style of play.

England didn’t have much in the way of offense at all, at rarely threatened the Italian goal. They did create a few chances though and Germany should be able to create more. The English defence may be better than Germany’s and Italy might have better luck finishing against them. Germany has some talented players in Mario Gomez, Mesut Ozil, Thomas Muller, Lukas Podolski, Philipp Lahm, and Miroslav Klose and a decent goalie in Manuel Neuer.

So… Our Predictions for Germany v Italy

Italy will counter with midfielder Andrea Pirlo, who was magnificent against England (see the fantastic penalty here) as well as striker Mario Balotelli and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Germany will go into the game as favourites and deservedly so. They can attack as well as defend whereas England appeared they could only do one or the other. The Italians are tough to beat though and neither team has lost yet at Euro 2012.

That of course is going to change on Thursday. This is another game that could go to extra time, and we bet on Germany to grab the winner in the end.

For this game we place our bets at William Hill that has a good selection and some nice valuable bets, they latest odds have a Germany win at 5/6 with an Italian victory at 19/5 and a 90-minute draw at 11/5. (See your preferred odds format after signing in.)

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written by Stefan