FOOTBALL: TURKEY WERE GREAT BUT UNLUCKY!

Germany 3-2 Turkey

The match was definitely far more exciting than the Spain-Italy match. Nobody will expect a 5 goal thriller from this after they were bore to death by the Spain-Italy match. Turkey started fiercely with a lot of confidence and superb, neat attacking football. They pressurized Germany as if they are the favourites. The Germans were shaky in defence, lack much marking and losing too much possessions. Kazim was the man for the earlier part of the first half. He tested Lehmann with a piledriver. Later, he had a try hitting the crossbar. Finally, another shot by Semih hit the crossbar and bounced back to the unmarked Boral's feet for an easy shot into goal.

The goal finally awaken the Germans. Germany never really had a decent chance until Schweinsteiger (man, how do you spell his name!) got an assist from Podolski from the left to score just after that. The equalizer made the Turks attack the Germans even more. Altintop tried a free kick which forced Lehmann to tip it over. Topal sent another dangerous one from the right which again was blocked by Lehmann. Sabri Sarioglu also tried a nice shot from the right but it was slightly higher.

Frings came in for the second half and Germany played much better than the first half. They had finally more authority in the match. Lahm attacked from the left and was brought down by Sabri. That should be a penalty but the refereee did not want to give. Hitzlsperger tried a shot which went abit too high. Suddenly, I lost all the coverage not long later before it was returned. Something must had happened in Switzerland.

After the coverage came back, most football was played in the middle. Boral tried one shot from the left which was stopped by Lehmann. Hitzelsperger tried another long shot from the middle and went slightly wide on the left as Rustu tried to reach it.

Soon, we lost coverage yet again! The second half so far was far more balanced than the first as both squads were attacking one after another. The news we heard later was Klose who scored the goal at the 78th minute. It is interesting to hear from him now as he was so quiet until now.

Unfortunately, I could not see the goal scored live. Sigh! What I heard was Rustu's mistake which resulted in the goal. He handled the cross very badly as he charged out but Klose leapt high enough to score a header into the empty goal. Then, I heard Turkey equalised 6 minutes later by Sabri who slotted the ball past Lehmann.

Lahm in exchange with Hitzelsperger scored the goal from the left very close to the 90th minute before the coverage was gone yet again. From a very tight angle as well as unexpected from Turkey, he managed to score that ferocious goal. Three minutes were added but I still could not see any coverage. Finally, the match ended without me seeing anything. Sigh!

Turkey deserved to go through and you can technically say the Germans are lucky! They outplayed them but yet did not managed to go through. In the second half, Turkey should have mark the Germans more. They were giving them too much space and Germany took advantage when it mattered most. Eventhough Turkey exited the tournament, we have to salute them for their great performance despite not able to field many of the first choice players in the match.