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Hitzlsperger plots route to glory
by John Atkin from Vienna
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Thomas Hitzlsperger in semi-final action against
Turkey (¿Getty Images)
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As Thomas Hitzlsperger prepares for what he describes as
the "biggest game of my career" in Vienna on Sunday he underlined
that, with or without Michael Ballack, Germany's hopes rest on not allowing
Spain room to play their own game.
'First final'
"I feel good about this," said the VfB Stuttgart midfielder
as he savoured the atmosphere ahead of the UEFA EURO 2008T final. "We're
all focused now and are aware how big it is, even if for most of us it
will be our first final at this level." That is certainly true of
Hitzlsperger, among a host of younger players in Joachim Low's squad,
though having played a key role as Stuttgart claimed the Bundesliga title
the season before last, he has a fair idea of how to bring about success.
"We have shown that we're strong," he said of Germany's progress
in Austria and Switzerland. "The Croatia match was not too good,
but we have continued on our course since then, and focused on our objective
which was to reach final."
Close quarters
Hitzlsperger did not feature in the 2-1 loss to Croatia, but after coming
on after the hour in the victory against Austria which booked a spot in
the knockout rounds he has earned his place in Low's starting XI. Germany
impressed in the 3-2 triumph over Portugal, though it took a last-minute
Philipp Lahm goal to see off Turkey in the last four and Hitzlsperger
sees problems that need addressing. "We've got to improve several
things from the Turkey game, most importantly closing opponents down early,"
he said. "When they [Spain] have the ball they make you run, and
you can get tired early on; that shouldn't happen. We need to close them
down from the first minute and if we're successful in that we have a good
chance.
Ballack loss?
"We've been talking about Spain a lot; they are much improved, the
best team in the finals," the 26-year-old continued. "For us
there have been difficulties; the Spaniards did not have these problems
but we hope we can cause them problems and they won't find an answer in
90 minutes." Spain will be without the injured David Villa in Vienna
though Hitzlsperger believes that they "are such a good side that
they can compensate even if he's not playing". He was less circumspect
about the prospect of Germany losing Michael Ballack to a calf knock,
saying: "He's such an important player. His main strength is his
ability to score so many goals, his presence and his leadership on the
pitch for the young players to look up to - that's what we need tomorrow."
Euro2008.com,
29 June 2008
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