Germany v Portugal: live - Telegraph 37 mins: Coentrao robs Muller with a good tackle, before Khedira has a useless longshot. Soren says: "The pitch seems slippery. Özil's not really steadfast. Defense is holding, though. Maybe a bit too much Munich in this game - the ideas in the last third of the field are CL-like lacking. 34 mins: Ozil and Boateng work down the right, but Portugal stand their ground and the Germans are forced back. Mark Lawrenson makes the reasonable point that England could adopt this Portugal-style approach v France. Assuming the players have the discipline for it, I would add. Rather than wandering out of position as we are wont to do. 32 mins: More ball for Germany, but not wuite going for them. Here come Portugal via Ronaldo, but the Germans are doubling up on him and there's nowhere for CR7 to run. Schweinsteiger and Moutinho go in for a 50-50. Foul to Germany. 30 mins: Podolski, set up by Ozil, puts the ball into orbit with a rotten shot. 29 mins: Portugal, for their part, are playing with a lot of discipline, their central midfield three staying in position and saying to Germany: "Hey, Germany. You'll have to come up with something special to get through us. What do you mean 'why are we talking in English?' You do your jobs, we'll do ours. Pal. 27 mins: Plenty of ball for Germany, they take their time and are patient. Khedira picks Podolski out at the back post but he fluffs the very hard high volley. 26 mins: Nani giving Lahm plenty to think about down the Portugal right. 25 mins: Ozil's looking dangerous. He nearly dances through but the Portugal defence are massed. Rare break for Portugal. Ronaldo tries the longshot but it is charged down. 23 mins: Portugal sit back in a bank of 5 and a bank of 4. Khedira tries to burst through and is fouled... Ozil has the ball in the net but the ref had blown. Good position for a freekick though. 25 yards out. Podolski slams it into the wall. 21 mins: Portugal get a bit careless at the back and Schweinsteiger has time to pick out a through ball. Just overhit. 20 mins: Enjoyable enough fare so far but it's not quite come to life. 16 mins: First bit of class from Ronaldo, he shows Boateng his full box of tricks and gets in a good low cross. As Lawro wisely notes: "He very rarely never gets his cross in." Deflected behind for a corner with Nani lurking. Alves nearly gets up from the corner but doesn't quite time his jump. Promising for the Portugalists. 15 mins: Germany haven't really got going yet. Portugal haven't got going at all. Ronaldo has a go at Postiga. Yak yak yak. 12 mins: Hummels looks a little nervy, unsure on the ball. A long ball pumped forward, and Postiga slides in on German keeper Neuer. He makes the best of the challenge and the Portgual forward goes in the book. 11 mins: Germany starting to tick. Khedira slips it to Ozil, who nearly manages to dance through, but Pereira gets a tackle in. Portugal have a chance to break but the ball to Ronaldo by Moutinho is sloppily overhit. 9 mins: Muller drills it across from the right and Podolski meets the ball on the gallop. He hits it with the outside of his left foot but it's routine for Patricio. 6 mins: Not a lot of quality to tell you about as yet, both sides giving the ball away a bit. The ref, a well-known fusspot, gives a foul as Muller goes in fairly on Coentrão. 4 mins: Helder Postiga, late of Tottenham, is cropped down by Schweinsteiger in the centre of the park. Portugal are playing 4-3-3 and the German side line up with Khedira and Schweinsteiger shuttling in a two in front of the back four. Then the talented three of Muller, Ozil and Podolski behind Gomez. 3 mins: Portugal win a corner after a good run by Coentrao. Veloso is pelted with paper cups by the German fans as he waits to take it. Easily cleared. 1 mins: Early attack for the Portuguese peters out and Germany can attack down the right with Boateng. Nice early ball, leap from Gomez, and Rui Patricio gets an early touch. Saves comfortably. 19.45 Oops, the PA has messed up the countdown to kick off. But Portugal get us underway anyway. 19.43 Let's hope Gomez has got his shooting boots on after that awful showing in the Champions League final. 19.42 Aw, it's Miroslav Klose's birthday. Shame he has been left out in favour of Gomez. Cameron McPhail asks: "Does Ozil look like kd lang?" He might, you know. He just might. 19.40 Will I be dragged out of the Telegraph offices by security if I say that I love the German national anthem? Only one way to find out. 19.38 Clarence Seedorf expects the Germans to be "like a bulldozer." Ok-aaaay. There's the mascots. That's the Ukraine one, Slavko, on the right. With his little friend Slavek on the left. 19.35 Real Madrid have two players in the German XI: Khedira and Ozil. They were among the players who helped the Germans win ten out of ten in qualifying. The atmosphere in the stadium is splendid, with the large majority being for Germany. Sören H. Assmann writes: "Good eeeevening. Now that the Danes have won and the beer is in my horned mug, we can focus on my homeland. This might be the strongest side Germany has fielded in the last 10 years. If Hummels makes a good game, Portugal might not even face a shaky defense. A win, and Portugal will have to defeat the Danes. And we know how funnily complicated that can be. Prediction: Germany 4:1 Portugal. 19.30 The German team were on the pitch very early. Gary Lineker's right in there with a "get the towels down" gag. It's post-modern. Seven Bayern Munich players in the starting XI. 19.15 Here's Paul Hayward's preview of the game. Anyone resentful of German power, German cleverness, should look away now, because Joachim Löw's fast-evolving side open their Euro 2012 campaign against Portugal in Lviv on Saturday night with a confidence bordering on triumphalism. 19.10 So Joachim Low has gone for Mats Hummels in preference to Per Mertesacker, who took a knock in training on Thursday. And Gomez gets the nod over Klose up front. Portugal prefer Postiga to Almeida up front. 19.05 Right then. Here's those teams. Germany: Neuer, Boateng, Hummels, Badstuber, Lahm, Khedira, Schweinsteiger, Muller, Ozil, Podolski, Gomez. Subs: Wiese, Gundogan, Schmelzer, Howedes, Schurrle, Klose, Bender, Mertesacker, Kroos, Gotze, Reus, Zieler. Portugal: Rui Patricio, Pereira, Bruno Alves, Pepe, Fabio Coentrao, Meireles, Veloso, Moutinho, Nani, Postiga, Ronaldo. Subs: Eduardo, Custodio, Almeida, Quaresma, Nelson Oliveira, Ricardo Costa, Rolando, Ruben Micael, Varela, Miguel Lopes, Hugo Viana, Beto. Referee: Stephane Lannoy (France) 19.00 Good evening football fans and welcome to our live blog of the group B clash between Germany and Portugal. That Holland defeat has made this already intriguing group even more interesting, huh? I will bring you the teams as soon as I have them. Both managers are picking from fully fit squads.