Germany occupy Scolari's thoughts for last eight

Germany, potential rivals for Portugal in Thursday's quarter-final, have been in the back of Luiz Felipe Scolari's mind ever since Joachim Loew's three-time winners lost to Croatia.

The Germans' surprise defeat by group winners Croatia last week coupled with Austria's draw with Poland left all three teams in with a chance of meeting Portugal with the outcome to be decided this evening.

Portugal coach Scolari has, meanwhile, had to manage a week's preparation punctuated by a meaningless last Group A match against eliminated Switzerland on Sunday pondering the advantages and disadvantages.

Scolari, though, continued to focus on Germany, a team whose tactics he admires and said you could never write them off.

"Even in the hardest situation they defend their pride and make an effort and manage to recover," the Brazilian-born coach told reporters after a virtual second-string Portugal lost 2-0 to the Swiss.

"In the match last week, that was not typical of Germany, but if we have to face them we're going to face a better team than that which played on Thursday (against Croatia)."

Scolari had a dig at zealous Austrian referee Konrad Plautz who booked four of his players in the match against the Swiss.

He said sarcastically that Plautz, who should have given Portugal an early penalty for a foul on Nani, was "very good, excellent" and wondered aloud whether his nationality meant favouritism towards potential quarter-final rivals Austria.

Asked about a possible second match with a host team, Austria, Scolari added: "Let everyone do their job, all I ask is that each one should do so correctly."

"The lesson I can draw (from the Swiss match) is that we had to win the first two matches, which we did," added Scolari. Portugal beat Turkey 2-0 and Czech Republic 3-1.

Scolari now has three key defenders who will have to be careful not to get a second yellow card in the quarter-final so as not to miss the semi-final if Portugal go through.

Jose Bosingwa was booked against Czech Republic and Paulo Ferreira and utility defender Fernando Meira, a regular substitute, against the Swiss. Also shown the yellow card against Switzerland were defenders Miguel and Jorge Ribeiro.

In light of the bookings, Scolari said he should have played all his reserves, not just eight, and none of his first choice players given the risk of bookings and injuries.

Injuries are not a worry, though, with Scolari saying: "In principle, we'll have the whole squad available.

"The players who have played little have less rhythm and some of the difficulties we had in the second half are normal. Any knocks we might have got will be treated."

The biggest names in the Scolari squad were rested, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Deco, Simao Sabrosa and Ricardo Carvalho.