Loew happy with defence's performance

Germany boss Joachim Loew expressed his pleasure at his side's narrow 1-0 victory over Portugal in their Group B opener, citing a much-improved work ethic in defence as a main reason for the success.

"It was a really close game, but it has given us a good start," said Loew, whose team now face Holland on Wednesday in Kharkiv.

"We did well in defence, we worked hard which wasn't always the case in our warm-up game."

Loew did however admit that the team have to fine-tune the attacking side of their game.

"We have work to do up front with the tempo, it was there in phases, but we have to be more consistent."