Following their defeat of a solid Portugal team, Germany has now been instilled as the favorite to win the Euro 2008.

Bayern Munich star Schweinsteiger scored one and set up two more - for Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack - to render Nuno Gomes' effort at the end of the first half and substitute Helder Postiga's goal towards full-time little more than consolations.

The result sees Germany, who only clinched their spot in the quarter-finals with a 1-0 win over Austria on Monday, advance to a last-four clash with either Croatia or Turkey next Wednesday.

Portugal had been listed with 4.5/1 odds of winning the Euro 2008.  Germany had odds of 5/1 at Sportingbet on Thursday afternoon.

Germany is now listed with odds of 5/2 to win Euro 2008. 

Germany demonstrated they are "a force to reckoned with" in eliminating Portugal from Euro 2008, coach Joachim Loew said Friday. Germany bounced back from two indifferent performances to defeat Portugal 3-2 in Basle Thursday evening to set up a semi-final encounter with either Croatia or Turkey.

Loew said Germany found their winning tournament mentality in downing Portugal - but revealed the victory had cost him a bottle of red wine in a bet with assistant coach Hansi Flick.

Flick, in charge of coaching duties on the touchline while the banned Loew was watching from the stands, had bet that Germany would score from a free-kick.

He was then delighted to see Germany score twice from the set-pieces through Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack.

That was an area of defensive weakness the Germans had planned to exploit in the Portugal side, Loew said at the team's Swiss camp in Tenero.

"We showed in this game that we are a factor in this tournament and that the strong Portuguese weren't able to withstand the pressure of a quarter-final," he said.

All odds below courtesy of Sportingbet

Germany 5/2
Holland 3/1
Spain 9/2
Italy 5/1
Croatia 13/2
Russia 12/1
Turkey 20/1