Turkey's George Mason like run through the European championships was ended in thrilling fashion. The Turks had lived off of last minute game-winners, but it was they who were eliminated by a 90th minute goal.
Surprisingly, the Turks came out to a quick start, dominating the first half. They hit the crossbar, then a few minutes later they went up 1-0 thanks in part to a slight miss that fooled keeper Jens Lehmann. It was the first time Turkey had a first half lead in the entire tournament.
But it didn't last long. Lukas Podolski found some room on the flank, before threading a perfect pass to Bayern Munich teammate Bastian Schweinsteiger, who one-timed it into the net to tie the score.
In the 2nd, Germany was on a mission. They played a heavy possession game, not really taking many chances, just waiting for the tired Turks to make a mistake. Keeper Rustu Recber provided the mistake, and Miroslav Klose put the Germans ahead with 10 minutes to go.
Meanwhile, lightning strikes in Switzerland interrupted the international feed of the game. Although most of the world lost the picture, unlike ESPN, they probably sent their announcers to Basel, instead of having them do the play-by-play in a sound studio in Bristol, CT.
The Turks had more late magic in them. Phillip Lahm was bitched on defense, and Semih Senturk deflected the tying goal. But Lahm redeemed himself 4 minutes later with a perfect strike at the 90th minute. Turkey had run out of miracles, and Germany advance to the finals.
If you didn't like international soccer, but watched this game, odds are you became a fan. A back-and-forth David vs. Goliath struggle. Even with the interruptions, it was one of the best matches I've ever seen.
-The Commodore
