It was always going to take something special to eliminate Turkey, like one of
those movie monsters that can be killed only by a stake through the heart,
or a silver bullet. It was going to need a savage plot twist, perhaps, or a
ruthless hero, coldly determined to meet his destiny for the cause. Somehow,
because this is what they do in big football tournaments, the Germans found
such a man, and such a narrative, at St Jakob-Park last night.
Philipp Lahm, the defender, scored the winning goal that propelled his country
to their sixth European Championship final, with one minute of a quite
stunning semi-final remaining. Germany had three efforts on target all
evening, and each one ended in a goal. Turkey’s odyssey was never going to
end in any way that followed conventional logic, although this was taking
its anomalous nature perhaps too far.
Turkey, with just five fit substitutes, including a goalkeeper, were the
better team, there is little denying that. They hit the bar, went close on
several occasions and made the contest far tighter than it was entitled to
be. That most believed the result flattered Germany is, frankly, little
short of miraculous in the circumstances. Imagine England in a leading
championship semi-final without David James, Micah Richards, Rio Ferdinand,
Joe Cole, Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen and you have some idea.
At half-time, Germany’s substitutes took over their portion of the pitch,
while a quintet of outnumbered Turks, including Tolga Zengin, their
third-choice goalkeeper, played keep-ball on the edge of the penalty area at
the opposite end, like kids in a park. One almost expected them to go up to
the Germans and ask if they could join in.
Yet despite this disadvantage, Turkey not only managed to take the lead, but
dominated the first half, before mounting a late comeback when it looked as
if Germany had the game won. Until Lahm scored, it seemed that another
Turkish revival would take the game into extra time. It raised the
intriguing prospect of whether the sheer will that has marked the Turkey
campaign could overcome Germany in a penalty shoot-out. We shall never know
because the Germans did not let it get that far. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm may
have been born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, but in football tournaments at
least, this is a country that does not do fairytales.
Even so, it took one of the finest goals of the tournament for them to win; a
goal that the Turks will surely concede had more than a flavour of the
determination that had driven their own progress. It was skilful and well
executed, yes, but brave also, and it was created and finished by a player
who had every reason to hide, having been caught out for Turkey’s goals.
This could have been a night to forget for Lahm, and instead he made it one to
remember. His man-of-the-match award was laughable, but if there was a
secondary prize for courage he would have deserved that.
Turkey’s first goal came down his side, and their second saw him utterly
outfoxed by Sabri Sarioglu. Just three minutes later, a great many players
would not have been looking to invite further attention.
Not Lahm. It was his run, cutting inside Kazim Kazim — known to his old
Leytonstone chums as Colin — and forcing the Turkey midfield player to turn
an ankle, so sharp was his change of direction, that won the game. Lahm made
a pass to Thomas Hitzlsperger and continued his progress, getting the ball
back with the goal, and the final, opening up before him. He shaped to shoot
right, shot left, and the match was over. It was a bravura finale from the
Germany team but they will need to find the form that dispatched Portugal to
lift the trophy in Vienna on Sunday.
It was a cruel way for Turkey to lose, yet strangely appropriate considering
their modus operandi throughout this competition. They were in with a
fighter’s chance until the last minute of the semi-final, but led in matches
for only 14 minutes out of 508. Still, they were carried out on their
shields, as great warriors should be, the extent of their resistance
measured by the fact that, with the scores tied at half-time, Germany were
considered to have ridden their luck.
Kazim-Richards signalled Turkish intent with a shot from 20 yards after six
minutes, before his shot hit the bar on 13 minutes. With each attack, Turkey
got closer, until the 21st minute when Kazim-Richards hit the bar from a
cross by Ayhan Akman and Ugur Boral forced the rebound through the legs of
Lehmann.
Turkey are not natural front-runners and within five minutes Germany had
equalised. Lukas Podolski curled in a low cross that Bastian Schweinsteiger
met with one of the most perfectly timed runs of the tournament, getting in
front of Mehmet Topal and directing his flick into the far corner, way out
of the reach of Rüstü Reçber in Turkey’s goal.
congrats to german team.they always found out ways to play final in somewhat.It was a marvelous show performed by Turkey everybody enjoyed.I hope we will have another amazing show in 2010.
Turkey was far better than Germany.Even i thought it would be 4 in a row in min.86
ali, adana, turkey
To all you English fans: Maybe you don't like German football. But at this European championship, the German team certainly plays entertaining matches. I guess you've enjoyed watching my team in this tournament. I hope you'll enjoy the final on Sunday, and I hope to see your team in 2010.
Jens, Dortmund, Germany
The game was ruined by Lawerenson's miserable whinging commentarty, he sounded like a wet monday morning in Grimsby, and it was obvious he was gutted germany won. Commentators were suppossed to be imparial. Tme to get Le Saux back on the mic.
Uche George, London , England
As I've read in some comments:
Thats typically turkish to blame others. It was the referees fault. Sure, and the ball wasn't correctly inflated also.
It was the germans fault, because they scored one goal more. But that's the name of the game.
Alex, Brussels, Belgium
Never forget: Turkey were missing superstars Nihat (La Liga Clinical Finisher), Arda (Better Than Cesc, Faster than Ribery), Servet (Rio Ferdinand without the parties), Tuncay (Complete Midfield Workhorse), Volkan (Better than Rustu), Emre (Ask Shearer) and Emre Gungor (Think Palermo era Cannavaro)
Albert, London, UK
I thougth, it would give a clash with Turkish footballfans. I had some pejudices. And in deed when we arrived at the marketplace there were some angry Turks and I heard some indignities from them. But some time later those "fans" were gone home and we had a great ,amicable bash with thousand others
Alexander, Frankfurt / Hessen, Germany
This was certainly the most exciting game of the tournament. Turkey played well, they played passionately. Best of luck to Germany!
Celeste, Dallas, US
Fabio C baby your are fabolous, I do not know if you are English or Italian !!! I did not see England in the game and Italian team was too tried to cop with Spain. In my opinion Spainish team is not as vigorous neither Argentinian nor Turkish team.
Germany will trash the Spain on Sunday.!!
Marcello Ferrari, Newport BEach, usa
i have read a comment here .. like turkey and russia should not be in Euro championships.. im still laughing at that comment ....i can give a advice .look at map!!!!!!!!! and see istanbul.. belong to us since 1453!! and the turkish team (galatasaray) already have uefa and super cup....thats funny
Omer, Istanbul, Turkey
For your information: The german armchair fans saw the goal of Miroslav Klose live on tv because the broadcast switched to the Swiss signal just in time.
Christian, Düsseldorf, Germany
The Turkish did their country proud, it was a privilage to watch a team with tremendous passion and a never say die attitude with skill to match any of the top teams congrats on a fine showing.
Mark Mullins, Kildare, Ireland
I dont know why some people feel disturbed about Turkey and its being in this tournament.I think It's not their bussiness! The Turkish team battled well in this tournament althought 'some people' are not satisfied with that.. I'm so proud of the Turkish National Team and its determination!
Eda, İzmir, Turkey
To J Roberts, Manchester, UK
I think your comment has nothing to do with football. Take your thoughts to another platform!
Imge, London, UK
Passion can only take you so far.. it was surely amazing what Turkey offered us in the course of this tournament, but in the end you need to combine this with a certain level-headed fundament in your team to go all the way. And a little luck never harmed anyone..
Frances, Munich, Germany
To Harald, Liverpool, UK
The only reason Turkey are part of European history is because they conquered and enslaved the Balkans for several hundred years, that does not make them European anymore so than I am Indian. Turkey and Russia should not even be in this tournament. I supported Germany.
J Roberts, Manchester, UK
The Turks played the way they had to. Playing a team like Turkey with absolutely nothing to lose is always the most difficult challenge. Be sure, that you will see a different german team on sunday. And remember, we are the best to perfom german virtues as seen yesterday! Come on Germany!!
Josh, Göppingen, Germany
By the way, watching the game on German television, we did not miss any of the goals - within minutes, German TV was able to switch to Swiss broadcasting so that we were not affected as much by the weather chaos in Vienna as stated in this article.
Markus, Büdingen, Germany
"As for the finals, Germany don't look good enough to beat Spain."
That´s what they all have said before the game vs. Portugal. Gratz to the Turkish, but winning is winning. That´s the only reason why they reached this stage in tournament. There is only one thing left to say.... FINALE... OH HO!
Andre, Kassel, Germany
Why are there so many hostile comments flying around here? Shouldn't we all be thankful we saw an excellent game of football? It had everything: an under-dog, hard fouls, bad calls, great shots, pretty goals, ugly goals, and bad weather. Why argue over minutiae? Just enjoy it.
Jim, Seattle, USA
to fabio c, london, uk
why dont you join us at euro2008?
too many people thinks its big countrys job but its not
just only heartbeat
congs turkey we choose you a winner of 2008
we always remember "comeback kings"...
Nomad, Stockholm, SWE
yeah turkey played better ıt is enough for us everbody saw we only wants friendship cong.germany ıt was one of the best match ı have ever seen also many thanks to fatih terim and his players THANK YOU GUYS YOU WELL DONE
JASMINE, hatay, turkey
This was certainly one of the championship's most enthralling games, with a battlesome Turkish team, which finally lost out against a smart but - concededly - lucky German side. However, Lahm's winner was simply magnificent! It remains to be seen whether Germany will prevail over Spain or Russia.
David, Bonn, Germany
Brazil x Turkey? Dream on baby, no way. A World Cup is a completly different matter then the Euro competition, besides, I don't even know if Brazil will quilify for 2010. Perhaps in 2010 Turkey will put Argentina out? Yes?That will make our friend Marcello like the Turkish even more.
Fabio C, London, UK
amazzzing performance by the turks !!! hands off to u all !!!! fateh kareem !!!! voolah ! wht a coach ! amazzzzing ! well it was a bad luck ! since germany scored one in the last mint. ! hard luck ! but the efforts by the turks will never be forgotten !!!! amazzing play .... nihat missed u !!! :(
Sanaa, Pune, India
Sorry to put an end to British viewers' Schadenfreude, but Germans were able to see Kloses's goal: The broadcasting ZDF hijacked the signal from Swiss TV which had cabled up the stadium at Basel, bypassing Vienna ... fortunately I was watching ZDF :-)
Marco, London,
we're proud of our players.they played for us for 70million people for our one and only country,TÜRKİYE!! they were better than germany but in the end we lost but they show all the world Turk's power and grand.and now so-called european people know that if Turks belive,nobody can stop them!!
Elif , Samsun, Turkey
I beileve Turkey would goto final, if Terim selected better team in the first place, as some of our top players were not playing even though they were not injured ,ie Fatih Tekke, Karadeniz was always last minute as he is one of most skillful player, therefore Turkey made its choise of players
Osman Pinaroglu, Ankara, Turkey
Germany beat Turkey because they scored more goals.
Rob, London, UK
We did no go any further by Terim as he did not select some of the best players, Fatihh Tekke who is the best player of the Zenith???
Terim does favoritism on selecting players therefore turkey did not go any furter.shame!!!!!
We would have won the Cup!!!!!
Osman Pinaroglu, Ankara, Turkey
we were lack of our best players like arda tuncay nihat but we played excellent cong.turkey and also germany the referee was bad ı think he didn t give 2penalties one for germany the other for turkey but ıt is football cong.fatih terim and all our plucky players
jasmin, adana, turkey
This game proves again that football is a game which is mostly influenced by coincidence, luck and the referee.
Turkey is learning what England, Holland, Italy and lastly Portugal already know: In a competition like this the probability that Germany wins is at about 80%.
I think it was Gary Lineker who was the first who spoke out this notion publicly.
Juergen T., Stuttgart, Germany
first i wanna congratulate Germans.they won the game and in football winner is right. but i should say the referee wasn't fair in his decisions. his worst decision was he didn't sent off P.Lahm. he did two fouls which needs yellow card very clearly. Lahm scored the last goal and they go through.
Katip, istanbul,
If there has been British viewers with a penchant for Schadenfreude they will not be pleased to learn that ZDF (German Television) switched over to Swiss Television so that "German armchair fans" did not fail to witness Miroslav Klose’s 79th-minute goal.
Gerhard, Frankfurt, Germany
Germany have had a happy knack of making the best of what they have got (which is often good), not losing their heads and picking themselves up quickly after a setback. They are also rather good at penalty shoot outs.
As a result, since 1966, they've reached loads of finals.
Good for them.
Rhys Jaggar, Leeds, UK
There is no question about the fact, that the Turks almost completely destroyed the German ambitions in the first half of the game. And it wasn't the German player's skills that changed the game. It was simply luck.
Unfotuntetly, as always, many Germans are too cocky about their team.
Friedrich , Berlin, Germany
Yes, a wonderful match. And how magnificent were the Turks.
But you know what thrilled me most?
It was near the end, when vision had returned, but commentary continued to come from Radio 5. So, so exciting and in your face!
And then we were returned to the dull Motson and his moany sidekick. Ugh!
Jack, Isle of Wight, UK
@ peterNW1... Sorry Peter, but as it will come to Germany vs. Spain in the finals, the Spanish are doomed. Too much alike the Portugues, and so, with all the respect to their contribution so far, cannot be on the lucky side of the game. Thing is, I am afraid Germany will have to play the Russians...
Lutz, Aachen, Germany
Turkey were for long periods last night for my money the better side.
Rustu's error cost them.
Yes they were lucky vs Croatia but they deserved their win vs the Czechs, more shots on goal after all and to come back from 2 down is great play and passion.
Patrick, Bristol, UK
All teams have in a long tournament good and bad days. That`it. And to play a fantastic football style on a good day is really not a problem for Portugal, Holland and Italy.
The german key is winning the games on bad days also - like yesterday ... That`s the difference.
Martin, Hannover,
Turkey did a great service to football last night.They came to score goals and never parked the bus to play for penalties.Countries like Italy have twice the talent yet showed half the courage.If England combined their undisputed individual talents with such a team ethos we wouldnt be stuck at home.
Amit, London,
Great game, you can't wish for any more excitement than this. Yet what I found even more interesting was the brilliant atmosphere between the German and Turkish fans: cheering and celebrating together, no traces of bitterness or jealousy. Cheers to Turkey for a great performance, see you in 2010!
Terry, Munich, Germany
The game may have been one of the less skilfully done but the experience of watching it was overwhelming. I live in Berlin-Neukölln inmidst of a very large Turkish community and I was very touched how well the celebrations went. Germans and Turks were cheering like brothers. Very touching.
Charlotte, Berlin, Germany
Germany, I am proud of you. Turkey, you were a really tough nut to crack. How could this match have been any more exciting? Thank you turkish fans for celebrating with us everywhere!
Marcus, Berlin, Germany
As an Englishman, I get some small satisfaction from reading all these comments written in English by Turks and Germans on an English newspaper website, talking about a game the English invented! See you in south africa, hopefully..;)
steve, watford, England
First let me say, that the Turks fought a very brave fight, congratulations ! Second : It is not true, that we (the German football armchair fans) failed to see the Klose goal or the 2-2, because after some minutes, the ZDF (German TV) was able to connect to the Swiss TV which had independent lines
Herman, Aachen, Germany
great match. germany have scored 3 times with 4 shoots on the goal against turkeys 19 shots. surprise? not really. and it is not because germany's reputation of being masters of come back either. in Turkish 11 only Gokhan was a defence player. turkey played the game with 2 forwards, 7 midfielders.
Burak, istanbul, turkey
Forget the schadenfreude. We did see all the goals, including Klose's, because ZDF switched to Swiss television.
Anja Sieg, Ihlow, Germany,
We did not miss Klose's goal. For once the German television reacted quickly and got their pictures from the broadcasting station in Switzerland. Therefore we got to see the goal. ;-)
HG, Siegen, Germany
Interesting to hear these comments again from the British...Germany weak, lucky, average, ..., England would have won, England have such great players...Wake up! England is just not in the same league as Germany, Brazil or Italy. The real "average" team is England! "100 years of hurt" :)
Klaus, London, UK
Turkish team played well and made us proud .They brought excitement into Championship and to our harts; but this is football near enough is not good enough .I agree with the comments above and beleive next time we shall play better .Good luck to German team .
Huseyin Kavrak, Adana, Turkey
German minimalism except for the goals. But hey, that's how Turkey got there in the first place.
@ Nick: You skipped elementary school or what? There's no USSR. Plus you don't have any worldclass players other than Gerrard & you'll never win anything.
Jan-Matthias, Hamburg,
To be sure, it was a lot of rubbish Germany played last night and the Turkish team was better. Germany is a mixed bag during this tournament, you never know what you will get.
All the best to the Turkish side. But do not forget that you beat three teams quite luckily in the last minutes before.
Frank , Geneva, Switzerland
As a Turkish, I am proud of not only our performance but also our national pride and the players' big heart.. we fought till last second of all the games in this tournament, we struggled with our absent, injured players and barely lost against Germany with our 2nd 11 players. hope to play final 2010
houston, NY, USA
I am from Argentina and live in the USA. I watched most of the Euro 2008 games and I was hooked on Turkish soccer games
during the tournament. The blistful, unexperienced, young players showed me that you can achive anything; if you play the country you love and cherish. VIVA TURKIYE!!
Marcello Ferrari, Newport BEach, usa
My congratulations to all the turks. This was a great game to watch and amazing climax in the last minutes. Thank you to our turkish friends for being very fair and sportsman like at the after match celebrations all over Germany.
Michael, Sinsheim, Germany
Turkey looks to be the better team even though they lost the game. If not all the suspended and injured players are absents, I think the end result will be a different story. My hearts goes out to the Turks and hope the Turks will win the next world cup (Final:Turkey x Brazil) held in South Africa.
Bernard Y.S.Lai, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Another day, another saying: first the portugese deserved to win the cup, then the dutch, then russian, now the turks. Make up your minds guys. Turkey played brilliantly, but lost. That's it. As for Germany, the end justifies the means. Result does matter! Any Chelsea-supporter would agree.
Chris, Nordhorn, Germany
I have to agree with most comments here that Turkey was the better team and they would have well deserved to win. But to say that England would have won the championships because they have better individual players is the mistake most people make, it's the team that counts!
Michael, Munich, Germany
Given the roller coaster performances by the German team I hope the German team plays better in Final. It looked like they only played forward whenever they had to, although when they did it was quite efficient. No idea why they could not test that goalie more... in US we missed 20 mins in 2nd half
Lothar, sacramento, USA
As most comments below are from people in the West they miss the crucial difference between the Turks and Germany: national pride.their love for their country carried them past other more professional teams, but teams lacking the national pride of the Turks. I for one salute them for this.
Derek Koch, Ghent, Belgium
Apart from the fact I thought Turkey deserved to win can we not just appreciate the entertainment provided by both sides in what has been one of the most enthralling tournaments in recent memory. As for the comments about how far England might have gone let's remember you have to be in it to win it
Colin Burt, London,
Yes, the Turks were quicker and combined better. They deserved to win. But it's goals that count. Just as Turkey won with late goals in their previous matches, Germany were lucky to get that 90th minute goal this time. Turkey - your team was great. Good luck for 3rd place on Sat.
alan, germany,
Nick, this is allready the third comment, in which you call Russia USSR. Dude we live in 2008. And well, maybe you would have won, but you simply weren´t able to qualify with all your world class players! ;)
And what are you talkting about "Farce of Uefa"?Everybody played everbody 2 times-thats fair
Björn, Duisburg, Germany
Germany scored three time in a semi final. They deserve to go through. It is impressive. All the more impressive because they scored three times as well in the Quarter Final. Sure their defence is awul. But if they do that again, they will be European Champions! If only England can score that much.
Jimmy, Vancouver,
Yes Mike, you put it right. It was a very lucky win. Turkey was the better team, we were very lucky. But that has always been the thing: you have to beat the Germans to get to the cup. I honestly don't know, why it is so difficult to kick our team out of a tournament. Great, great match Turkey!
Taca, Paderborn, Germany
@ Mike, High Wycombe, UK
I have to say, I'm somewhat offended. When Turkey pulls the rabbit out of the hat, as they did to Croatia, the whole world applauds. When Germany does it, everyone outside of Germany is disgusted. We didn't did play that badly either; we were one bad call from scoring 4.
Klaus, Los Angeles, The United States
As beeing a Turkish team supporter, i can proudly say that our team has the power for winning the following cup...., thank you Fatih Terim and thank you guys, we all proud of you....We played and they won, nothing to say more....
Mustafa Kemal OZKAN, Brussels, Belgium
frankly,turkey played aganist of german national team the best game i have ever seen up to now.did u count that how many shoot germans strike to turkey?yes,i did.only 4 shoot and all of us know three of them was goal.however there is a no fair in the football.i think turkey deserve that won this cup
aragonez, madrid, spain
To the dear T. Y. Chaillot, Paris, France
Perhaps your footballers whose origins comes from Algeria could play for their own national team. As an example Zidane. Deal?
Listen to me my little brainy friend, your grand grand grand grand ancestors was living in the city that i'm currently living now.
Erman, Istanbul, Turkey
How predictable: lots of comments from the UK belittling a German win.. well frankly, who cares. To German-Turkish friendship!
krish, london, uk
Football is a game where whoever scores more goals is the winner. Germany played poorly, their passing game was awful & their defence was dreadful. They should have had a penalty. I wish England players in big competitions will finally play to win rather than play to win media beauty competitions.
hock, London, Uk
Muhahahaha....
Where is England??? Sorry, but you cant say anyone aobout German.
See you @ the next Penalty....
Muhahahahaha
kwon, hannover, germany
i just cant imagine england in a leading championship semi final, im trying to. until the english team can wear their england shirt with the same pride as the turks do, we will always just be spectators. the english team are more concerened about their gucci shirt than their england shirt.
tim, london,
Astonishing to watch, yes, yet watching a semi final between a lucky Turkish side and an average German team convinces me that England would have won the Euro '08 final in Venice had we qualified instead of the USSR. Simply look at the world class players we have compared to Turkey and Germany.
Nick, London, UK
I cant get that how can UEFA employs such referees...After an unobjective match Turkey against Czech the referee hugged one of the players from Czech and shared their sadness with them.Platini cant see that?Also tonight Busacca and side referees were hanging out with the Germans too.
Erman, Istanbul, Turkey
Emile Ben & T. Y. Chaillot: three-quarters of Russia is in Asia - east of the Ural mountains - so should they be competing in Euro 2008 (or the Eurovision song contest)?
Mike, High Wycombe, UK
The match was great , Turkey played very well , but Germany always looked as if they would score when they attacked . Germans again surrendered to much possesion to the opposition, if they can overcome this faux pas they will be the team to beat for years to come.Due notice has been served to all.
Antoine , Warsaw, Poland
I liked this tournament because of the enjoying games of Turkey, Holland, Portugal, Spain and Russia... We saw attacking football is working and that makes football beautiful. ALso Come backs of Turkey will be legend. But "a bitter end" Turkey were beaten by another last minute goal. See ya in 2010
Kerem Kemaneci, Adana, Turkey
Ben, Berlin - OK maybe "disgusted" was a bit strong, substitute "disappointed". I just don't think Germany deserved to win tonight. (They did deserve to beat Portugal last Thursday, and I loved that game).
Mike, High Wycombe, UK
As a Turk, I am proud of this game. And congratulations to the Germans, they played poorly but with smart tactics. As for my team, they have already proved the greatest entertainers, inspirers and underdogs of any tournament, and are already the Champions of our Hearts.
Thanks Türkiye.
Alper, Istanbul, Turkey
Congratulation to German national team .Although Turkey outplayed Germans but I felt it were Germans who held their nerve until the last minute and hence they had this lucky victory.
p, LONDON, UK
i think after watching football for the last 28 years i think this has been a brilliant tournament and I think Turkey have been one of the biggest underdog stars i have ever seen. Today maybe Germany won but I think Turkey performance today and in previous matches will be remembered for ever
Amir Khan, Vaduz, Germany
Hey it takes two teams to provide entertainment...kudos to Turkey for keeping the competition alive....
Germany? Well, i'm not a German but l have been supporting them since 1986....why? ....one word..."resilience"...
Sanjeev Kumar, Malaysia,
The hungry Turks were something of a wake-up call for the complacent Germans. Having said that, Turkey are very lucky the final score wasn't 4-2, as the referee failed to award an obvious penalty to Germany.
As for the finals, Germany don't look good enough to beat Spain.
peterNW1, London, UK
Emile, there is more to Europe than what a timid schoolboy's sense of geography can grasp. Turkey has long been a part of European history and culture, and will hopefully be part of a peaceful future. You do seem to have a problem with European geography. Great Turkish team, by the way.
Harald, Liverpool, UK
we -turks- are really proud of our team.Everyone enjoyed watching them.THANKS for all you've done so far and I'm sure these are the echoes of coming success in the near future.
ahmet özkan, istanbul, Turkey
when Germany won against Portugal, the saying was: poor Portuguese, they played such nice artistic football..
when Germany wins against Turkey, the saying is: poor Turkey, they played much better..
...this feels strangely biased and unfair
the truth is: who wins all knock-out games get's the cup
johannes, canterbury, UK
We played the best but result was bad for us. I think that All over the world talk about turkey not germany
Fehmi, Çarşı, Turkey
@ Mark: Be "disgusted" my friend, however much you want, but there has to be a bit of bias beforehand to use such unsportsman-like language. Turkey fought better tonight, but except for an admirably brave fighting spirit, their game left a lot to be desired throughout the tournament.
Ben, Berlin, Germany
i was shaking watching the game, and as it ended i continued to shake, with a pit in my stomach. turkey, for an american, with no one to root for, you were the team i wished to go all the way. congrats on making it this far, and, 6 years later, yet again putting "türkiye" on the footballing map =[.
Matt, Wilkes-Barre, PA, USA
Perhaps Turkey would do even better in the championship of Asia -- the continent to which they belong.
T. Y. Chaillot, Paris, Fraance
Turkey played well,so thanks to all of Turkish players.But Germany won,congratulations! Yeah maybe Turkey played better than Germany but Germany struggled and won.We won't forget our success on this tournament.Love to Germany...
Duygu, Istanbul, Turkey
From the bottom of my heart, to the deepest fathoms of my soul - Turkiye, thank you - ben canim turkiye
Alper, london, uk
This Germany will become the EURO-champ! Playing great against Poland, horrible against Croatia, stand the pressure against Austria, playing again great against Portual, very worse against Turkey they will play a great final against....who ever! Greetings from Olpe/Germany
Stefan Berger, Olpe, Deutschland
That are the games you need to win to be the champion!
Germany was lucky this time (not Turkey), but in the end they played the better tournament at all and they deserve the final.
Kriese, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Looks like the final gonna be a re-enactment of the Battle of Stalingrad on the playing field of Vienna!
SD Goh, PJ, Malaysia
Well done Turkey, Germany were very poor. Turkey made the german's look very ordinary at best even though they won, lucky German's!!. However this is what they are known for i guess. Personally Turkey are the real winners in this tournament and should be in the final, they made it worth watching.
Taylan Oliver, London, UK
turkey is the best in this tourn
D. Brown, NY, the USA
That was the worst refree I've ever seen in this tournament.Despite the refree,Turkey played very well and even so much better than Germany.Fairly we deserved the match.If anyone,who understands the football,watches the match it is clear that Turkey was much better than Germany.We're proud of YOU..!
ilyas Çetin, Karabük, TURKEY
i think, turkey's team is the best in this tournament.. congratulation..
D. Brown, NY, the USA
It would have been embarrassing to have a non European team reach the final of its premier national football competition. One day it may happen but thankfully my schoolboy geography is in tact and Asia Minor is still where it is. Not in Europe.
Emile Ben, Hong Kong,
God again.. maybe it was the first time we actually played better than the counter team, therefore God took its revenge from us because of the earlier matches we played worse but we won.. if someone says luck to the earlier unexpected successes of Turkey, this time luck was with Germany..
oznur, istanbul, turkiye
many thanks to Turkish National Team. You will be remembered as simply incredible..You were great! and we enjoyed a lot watching you in this tournament...
IRFAN, London, UK
This was the best game, and the worst result, so far. Everyone outside Germany will be disgusted. Turkey, fielding their "2nd. eleven", were so much better. Germany were mostly rubbish compared with the team that beat Portugal. They'll have to smarten up to avoid slaughter by (I predict) Russia.
Mike, High Wycombe, UK
there'll be a lot of negative comments about the german play, but let's be honest: if turkey really was that good, how could germany still score 3 times? it was a deserved win - at the same time, if turkey would have won, it would have been there first deserved win in this tournament.
Martin, Den Haag, The Netherlands
I think Turkey can really be proud of their team. Germany were really lucky to reach the finals. It was a very very close match. And it is always hard to lose a semi final. I remeber when we lost against Italy in 2006. Turkey will have a big future. Best wishes from Germany!!
M. Bregenzer, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
After watching the game, I am proud to have such reserves in my National Team. We've lighted a fire on 2002 world cup, again we played semi-final today in euro2008 with all circumstances against our team. No doubt that the Turkish show will go on with one step ahead in South Africa. Keep watching us
Fazil Ozmen, Antalya, Turkiye