Television upstaged the Turkish and, get this, Germany is going to the finals as evidenced in 101SL’s 10-point outlook at the European Championships this morning (postmatch hindsight in bold):
1. There can only be one heavy favorite in a game, and it’s clearly the Germans in this sometimes-tricky position of having to stomp a loose spider cornered in a four-wall bedroom. The situation turned out to be the Germans not having trouble with tracking down the spider at all, but instead trying to get the spider from off of them. In the end, they conquered the damn thing, not without some bites of course. A quick need to state the obvious: cheers to Turkey, the tournament is theirs, you always get the one honorary champion at these things so there’s no suspense in that regard this year.
2. It doesn’t change in Turkey’s depth misfortune one bit that striker Colin Kazim-Richards, who is likely to make his second start for the depleted tournament darlings today, was once a name prominent the prospect list in England. Kazim-Richards ended up with three shots, one on goal, two fouls charged and a foul suffered. He can’t claim much of Turkey’s glory, but his name has been floated back out there by being around in the end (not that anyone was watching … HAY-oh!)
3. Forget the critics, even Joachim Low has to be feeling that the Germans are still looking to play their best ball of the tournament despite being this far along.There are always two sides to the coin in these scenarios. The more popular opinion in this case is that the Germans are flailing and setting themselves up for a ride right off the tracks at the worst possible time. Another angle is that the Germans are pulling out the stops in the end, withstanding the peskiness of underdogs and contenders alike as if a road map is being followed.
4. The Turkish comeback act can’t be a part of the game plan this time with no questionable Swiss/Czech/Croatia-like defense to bank on in the event of an emergency.The surprise within the surprise was Turkey’s handling of the German back line. The offensive urgency not only came to life, but in quality fashion. Credit Turkey especially for coming right back strong at Germany after Kazim-Richards’ crossbar job. So many teams have gone forlorn after such instances this whole event. For the record, Turkey outshot Germany 22-9 overall, 15-5 on goal, held an 8-2 edge in corners battled for 50-50 on possession.
5. Everything that happens against Turkey will have a bearing in the weekend title game, something Low will take into account when deciding where to slide Torsten Frings into the scheme.Frings was a 46th-minute sub for the venerable Peter Rolfes and looked plenty healty enough to start in the final, though he wasn’t exempt from a slippery day of defending against the charging Turkish.
6. We’ve marveled at Turkey’s offensive ways in the business of deficits … it’s then easy to expect that the underdogs will go all-out for the heavy hits right away instead of peeling back whatever 11 starters end up on the field. Let’s just play it back again — Turkey outshot Germany 22-9 overall, 15-5 on goal, held an 8-2 edge in corners battled for 50-50 on possession.
7. Ah, goalkeeper Recber Rustu, how fitting that this very tournament gets him back out into the situation that got him off the bench to begin with.This won’t do so much for Rustu in terms of a free-agent contract standpoint, but his dormant legacy that finally looked done picked up a new, unexpected chapter.
8. There should be no hesitation to call it what it would be: the biggest upset in German history, how much further than that will be more of a debate. Because it wasn’t, the satellite broadcast regimen for these tournaments will get a second chance. If Turkey takes it, it would be new methods across the board, lightning be damned.
9. Again, in the interest of getting a head start on the Germany-Spain preview for Sunday, there will be the anxiousness as to how far into the battle the hammer comes down on Turkey.It took all the way until extra time, lo and beold from ‘The Hammer’ himself. Hitzlsperger, known for his cagey approach to outside shooting, showed quite a burst of finesse with the through-ball to Lahm that cut a seam right through the yarn of the defense.
10. Hamit Altintop’s already-valued role in the Turkish midfield is hundredfold what it was only a week ago today.Whereas his fellow prominent teammates were spectacular the last few weeks, Altintop was steady. He wasn’t a factor in the Swiss but became a presence more and more as the stakes increased. among so may Bayern star representatives, Altintop was maybe the least heralded and ended up one of its most proud representatives, especially with the work against the Germans in front of all those anxious Bundesliga pundits.
