Germany beat Netherlands 2-1 Group B Netherlands V Germany

Germany beat  Netherland 2-1 Group B Netherland V Germany

Germany beat Netherlands 2-1 in their second group B. Bayern Munich striker Gomez scored two delightful goals on 24 and 38 minutes both goals set up by his Bayern Munich team-mate Bastian Schweinsteiger to add to his winner against Portugal in the opening round of games as Joachim Loew's side threatened to put the match beyond their fierce rivals before half-time.

Germany looks comfortable to reach the quarterfinals after this 2-1 victory over Netherlands as Germany sits on the top of Group B with 6 points.

A great chance fell to Van Persie after five minutes as a ball over the top got behind the German defence, but the striker could only fire his shot into Neuer's grateful arms.

Germany replied as Mesut Ozil hit the post from the edge of the penalty area on eight minutes, but the Dutch went back on the attack soon after as Van Persie fired wide this time.

The Germans took the lead thanks to a clever through-ball from Schweinsteiger which beat the Dutch off-side trap and fell to the feet of Gomez, who powered onto the pass and rifled home on 24 minutes.

The pair combined again on 38 minutes when Schweinsteiger's pass freed Gomez on the right and he fired past Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg on 38 minutes to make it 2-0 to the Germans at the break.

Having scored the winning header in Germany's opening 1-0 victory over Portugal, Germany's Gomez is now the tournament's early joint top-scorer with Russia's Alan Dzagoev with three goals after Bastian Schweinsteiger set up both his first-half strikes.

World Cup finalist Netherland were able to improve after the break though, and pulled one back through a breathtaking strike from Robin van Persie on 73 minutes. But they were not able to stop Germany from taking 3 clear points from the match.

The Netherlands need to beat Portugal by two clear goals and hope Germany overcome Denmark to reach the quarter-finals while Germany must gain at least a point against the Danes to be certain of progress.

Germany will only be denied a spot in the last eight if they lose to Denmark and Portugal overcome the Netherlands. It would then come down to the head-to-heads between the teams to decide who goes through.

With Germany on six points and Denmark and Portugal on three after Portugal's 3-2 win over Denmark earlier in the day, it is worth noting that no team has reached the knockout phase of a European Championship finals after losing their opening two matches.