Volz ready to power Germany

Germany defender Moritz Volz is convinced his side will get the result they need against Portugal to clinch a place in the last four despite suffering their first defeat of the tournament against France on Thursday.

'Confidence'
Volz believes the 3-0 scoreline against France was not a fair reflection of his side's performance and he expects Germany to respond well against the hosts, who must win by three goals to advance after losses to France and Serbia and Montenegro. "We have seen as much of Portugal as we have seen of France and it is enough," he told uefa.com. "We lost 3-0 but we gained confidence from the game. We'll take it into the Portugal match and I have no doubt in my mind that we will go through to the semi-finals."

'Difficult'
Germany opened the competition with a 1-0 win against Serbia and Montenegro, but struggled to match the tempo of that game as the temperature soared in the afternoon sun in Guimaraes. "It was very difficult but I think both teams coped well," he said. "You could see that the pace was not as high as in the first two matches that both teams played. It is hard in those conditions and it does affect the performances. You could see that both teams were trying to play their normal game."

'Positives'
The Fulham FC right-back added: "I think both teams are on the same level, good teams. Often these games are decided by set-pieces and unfortunately it went against us but we can take positives from the France game. We go into the next game thinking we will go through to the semi-finals."