There was to be no fairytale then. Euro 2004 will live long in the memory but the odds of repeating their previous feat were always slim and Greece were ultimately brushed aside by what looks to be a very imposing German side.
The game started slowly with neither side (particularly the Greeks) over-committing but ay around the twenty-miniute mark Germany found their stride; and to some degree. Hitting Greece with quick counter-punches the Germans had four scoring chances in little over a minute. By the time the half-time whistle sounded Germany had parlayed this dominance into a scoring change advantage of 9-1.
The expectation was that Germany dominance would continue but Greece stunned them early in the second half when Giorgios Samaras cancelled out the opening goal. Germany would not be deterred however, quickly restoring their lead and ultimately rolling out very comfortable winners outchancing their opponents 17-4 in the process.
In many ways the pattern of the game followed a similar vein to that in the first quarter-final between Portugal and Czech Republic, where one side dominated the other but took time (and scoring chances) to convert the high number of scoring chances they had.
Ultimately Germany did, but very much like Portugal know that in the semi-final, whilst possessing a clear ability to create scoring chances, may not be able to spurn so many early opportunities if they hope to progress on to the final.
The individual numbers were interesting to look at in that many an eyebrow had been raised with the ommission of Mario Gomez, Lukas Podolski and Thomas Mueller. being replaced with Miroslav Klose, Marco Reus and Andre Schurrler. However, all three scored scored highly with Reus +6 and Schurrler +4 in particular justifying their selection with Schurrler's chances per 100 touches a very impressive 10.34.
None was more impressive than Mehsut Ozil however. Ozil is proving to be the heartbeat of the German attack and was involved throughout and was an astonishing +10 at the final whistle, meaning he was involved in around 60% of all Germany's scoring chances.
Contrast this of course with Greece's figures, whilst not to the depths of the Czech Republic, were poor with only Giorgios Samaras and goalkeeper Michael Sifakis ranking anywhere near the leaders. Much like the previous evening, a lack of ambition and defensive approach has not worked against the top sides who possess so much attacking threat and so many attacking options.
Spain may still be the side to beat in the tournament but there is an awful lot of momentum with this German side and there are not many who would bet against them at this stage.
Germany v Greece individual scoring chance leaders (click the image to enlarge):