Podolski: "I wanted to play at any cost"

The striker Lukas Podolski was said happy to have overcome the muscle pain that almost took the departure of Thursday, in which Germany beat Portugal by 3 to 2 and secured a place in the semifinals of Euro 2008.

The player of Bayern Munich said he "wanted to play at any cost" and managed to "bear the pain."

"Play very well. It was a great game. Now we can celebrate," he said.

Brazil and Argentina draw in Mineirăo

The Brazilian National Team draw this Wednesday evening with Argentina at 0 to 0 in Mineirăo that it has received an audience of 52,527 paying. With the result, Brazil has reached nine points earned and is in fourth place in Rounds of the World Cup of 2010. Paraguay leads with 13, followed by Argentina with 11 points.

The game was equal and much disputed in the first time. Both teams concentrated most of the bids in mid-field, using the touch of ball to find a way to penetrate the defenses.

The two teams had two opportunities to mark. The first, from Brazil, was clearer, with the chute of Julio Baptista stopping the defense of Abbondanzieri in the rebound of Robinho chute, after move that began with Adriano.

Messi had a chance to Argentina, but wasted, chutando out.

The Brazilian National Team still has a bid in which the Argentine defender chutou the chest of Juan, in a bid that the penalty was called.

The second time, Brazil to reach faster in front of shots, but can not overcome the defense argentina to get done.

Argentina has had a bid of more danger in the final minute, but the tie ended up prevailing.

Brazil: Julio Cesar, Maicon, Lucio, Juan and Gilberto, Gilberto Silva, Anderson (Diego, after Daniel Alves), Mineiro and Julio Baptista, Robinho and Adriano (Luis Fabiano). Technical: Dunga.

Argentina: Abbondanzieri, Burdisso, Coloccini, Heinze; Zanetti, Mascherano, Gago, Riquelme (Battaglia) and Gutierrez; Messi (Palacio), Julio Cruz (Agüero). Technical: Alfio Basile.

UPDATE: World Cup 2010 - Brazil v Argentina Line-Ups: Barca's Messi, Arsenal & Spurs' Gilberto's, Man Utd's Anderson Start

TEAM UPDATE: Full starting line-up’s for Brazil v Argentina in their World Cup 2010 Qualifying Match at the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte, Brazil on Wednesday evening.

Paraguay are currently leading the CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying table after defeating the Brazil’s Seleçao 2-0 on Sunday, with Dunga’s team currently in 5th place in the CONMEBOL table, behind Uruguay and Colombia, in 4th and 3rd respectively.

Argentina managed to scramble a late-point against Ecuador in Buenos Aires in the Albiceleste’s last World Cup qualifying match at the weekend, with Alfio Basile’s team now in 2nd place in the South American table.

Seleçao head coach Dunga, speaking after the loss against Paraguay at the weekend, is upbeat about their chances against their local-rivals, saying: “The Paraguay result was very bad for us and it's increased the pressure ahead of the Argentina match.

"Sometimes things just work out that way, sometimes they don't. I'm optimistic about Wednesday's game and we'll be going there to win."

Brazil start with Arsenal midfielder Gilberto Silva starting alongside his North London rival and namesake Gilberto (full name Gilberto da Silva Melo) from Tottenham Hotspur, with Man Utd's Anderson and former Gunners loan player Julio César Baptista also in midfield.

Full Teamsheets for Brazil v Argentina in their World Cup 2010 Qualifying Match:

Brazil Team: Julio César, Juan, Maicon, Gilberto, Lucio, Miniero, Gilberto Silva, Julio Cesar Baptista, Anderson, Adriano, Robinho.

Brazil Substitutes: Doni, Luis Fabiano, Josué, Daniel Alves, Thiago Silva, Alexandre Pato, Diego.

Brazil Head Coach: Dunga.

Argentina Team: Roberto Abbondanzieri, Javier Zanetti, Gabriel Heinze, Jonás Gutiérrez, Fabricio Coloccini, Nicolas Burdisso, Juan Riquelme, Julio Ricardo Cruz, Javier Mascherano, Fernando Gago, Lionel Messi.

Argentina Substitutes: Sebastián Battaglia, Jonathan Bottinelli, Juan Carrizo, Rodrigo Palacio, Gonzalo Javier Rodriguez, Maxi Rodriguez, Sergio Leonel Aguero.

Argentina Head Coach: Alfio Basile.

Euro 2008 Result: Portugal 2-3 Germany - Ballack, Schweinstieger & Klose Seal Quarter-Final v Croatia Or Turkey

Germany have beaten Portugal 3-2 in the EURO 2008 Quarter Final match, with Portugal being eliminated from the tournament after goals from Bastian Schweinsteiger, Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack sealing the win for Germany, despite Gomes & Helder Postiga scoring for Portugal.

The game started off at a fairly high pace, with Portugal having the majority of possession in the opening minutes of the match.

Chelsea new-boy Jose Bosingwa delivered an excellent cross for Joao Moutinho in the 20th minute, but the Portuguese striker somehow thighed his shot over the bar from just 4 yards out.

Germany started to find their feet in the match and took a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute, with a strike from Bastian Schweinstieger giving the Germans the lead in their first true attack of the game.

Lukas Podolski was the provider, after making a great run down the left channel, crossing the ball into the penalty area for Schweinsteiger to knock the ball past Ricardo to make it 1-0.

Germany doubled their lead just four minutes later. Miroslav Klose scored his first goal of the tournament after latching on to a Schweinsteiger free-kick, beating the offside trap to head past Ricardo and give Germany a two goal advantage before the half-hour mark.

Portugal pulled a goal back in the 40th minute, with Nuno Gomez scoring off a rebound from Cristiano Ronaldo’s shot which was saved by Lehmann.

Gomes’ shot proved too strong for Christoph Metzelder to stop the ball deflecting into the German goal to make it 2-1 before the break.

Portugal took the game to Germany in the beginning of the second-half, with Lahm and Friedrich seeing bookings early in the second half for Germany.

But despite the Portuguese revival, Germany re-gained their two-goal advantage in the 61st minute with a header from Germany captain Michael Ballack.

Ballack seemed to push Chelsea club team-mate Paulo Ferreira out of the way to find space to head past Ricardo to make it 3-1 from another badly defended set-piece.

Lukas Podolski had a stunning effort on goal in the 78th minute, which flashed just wide of Ricardo’s left-post as Germany looked to run the game out.

Portugal scored a second goal with just three minutes of normal time remaining.

Manchester United midfielder Nani made a superb run down the wing, cut back and crossed to fellow substitute Helder Postiga, who headed past Lehmann to make it 3-2 to Germany.

Germany now face either Croatia or Turkey in the first Semi Final of the tournament.

Full Teamsheets For Portugal v Germany EURO 2008 Quarter Final Match:

Portugal Team: Ricardo, Paulo Ferreira, Jose Bosingwa, Cristiano Ronaldo, Petit (Helder Postiga, 73), Joao Moutinho (Raul Meireles, 31), Simao, Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho, Deco, Nuno Gomes (c) (Nani, 67).

Portugal Substitutes Not Used: Nuno Espirito Santo, Rui Patricio, Hugo Almeida, Jorge Ribeiro, Bruno Alves, Fernando Meira, Miguel Veloso, Miguel, Ricardo Quaresma.

Germany Team: Jens Lehmann, Arne Friedrich, Simon Rolfes, Bastian Scweinsteiger, (Clemens Fritz, 83), Miroslav Klose (Marcell Jansen, 89), Michael Ballack (c), Philipp Lahm, Thomas Hitzlsperger (Tim Borowski, 73), Per Mertesacker, Lukas Podolski, Christoph Metzelder.

Germany Substitutes Not Used: Robert Enke, René Adler, Heiko Westermann, Torsten Frings, Oliver Neuville, Mario Gomez, Piotr Trochowski, David Odonkor, Kevin Kuranyi.