"Germany book last-eight spot"

Germany will face Portugal in a thrilling quarter-final showdown after Joachim Low side of Limp past Austria with a narrow 1-0 victory over co-hosts in Vienna.

Michael Ballack is stunning 49th minute free-kick was enough for Germany to sign their Group B campaign on a high, but certainly necessary to improve the fight against an impressive unit of Portugal if we want to go beyond euros in 2008.

The defeat means that Austria joined fellow co-hosts Switzerland failing to be outside the group stages of their own tournament.

Josef Hickersberger's side knew that a victory over Germany and they have not seen the pre-tournament favourites to qualify the last eight, but never really expected capable of causing discomfort in front of a partisan crowd 50000.

Austria showed much spirit and desire, but ultimately lacked quality in the last third and not significantly test Jens Lehmann in goal the opposition over a disappointing 90 minutes.

Germany would have been to go ahead with just five minutes on the clock had Mario Gomez not guilty of a lack of the tournament so far.

Miroslav Klose is low cross across the six yard box bobble and hit the shins of the Stuttgart striker and he could only watch in horror as the ball ballooned into the air and Gyuri Garics cleared off the line.

In a first half devoid of much goalmouth action, the closest either side came to breaking the deadlock after that was a thunderous 20-yard strike from Lukas Podolski that Jurgen Macho round his post with a smart save.

Austria has curio aim Erwin Hoffer fell under a clumsy challenge by Christoph Metzelder after 18 minutes but the referee ruled that the rape had not taken place.

The same player was also unfortunate enough to see Lehmann nip the ball off his toes when he had beaten the offside trap to meet a low cross.

Both Josef Hickersberger and Joachim Low were sent to the stands on the stroke of half time for a touchline argument between the two coaches that was out of character in a decidedly low-key game.

After the interval, moments of attacking brilliance continued to be in a premium Ballack lit up a weak game with a stunning strike that could well prove to be the goal of the tournament.

The captain let fly from Germany with a 30 yard free-kick that found the upper right corner of the net and left the Macho diving grab a place with fresh air.

Philipp Lahm and Klose had half chances to snuff out by the widespread legs of defenders committed as Germany is happy to play at half time after taking the lead.

Macho then submerged in bravely to deny Klose when one-on-one, before substitute Oliver Neuville wasted a glorious opportunity to set the seal on victory in stoppage time after stopping at the ball and allow the defense to regroup when he could having played in one of three companions.