Germany vs Turkey Preview and Live Score

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Euro 2008: Germany-Turkey match Live Updates

All of the four quarter final matches of Euro 2008 have already been completed with only three matches left in the competition to decide the new champion of Europe. In the first semi final, Germany will face Turkey on 25 June 2008, Wednesday at the St. Jakob-Park, Basel in Switzerland. Germany was pre-tournament favorite and naturally they were expected to come to this stage, but Turkey’s progress to semi final has been quite unexpected. It does not mean that Turkey does not have the ability to come to this stage. In fact, Turkey has received enough respect for their mental toughness and already earned the reputation of a come-back side, following three come-from-back victories in the last three crucial matches.

Match: Germany vs Turkey, First Semi Final, Euro 2008

Date: 25 June 2008, Wednesday

Venue: St. Jakob-Park, Basel in Switzerland

Germany vs Turkey: Road to Semi Final
Neither Germany nor Turkey could easily progress to the knock out stage, requiring the result of their last group match to go in their way. Germany started the tournament with an easy 2-0 victory over Poland. However, it was against Croatia in the second group match where Germany suffered a heavy blow after losing the match 2-1, which left Germany on the verge of elimination from the group stage. Germany needed a victory against Austria in final group match and a superb free kick goal from Captain Michael Ballack clinched a 1-0 victory for Germany ensuring a quarter final berth. Germany progressed to the quarter final as the runner up of Group B.

Germany faced another tournament favorite Portugal in the quarter final. Given their recent form, Portugal was slightly favorite in the match, but an inspired German team outclassed the Portuguese side and won the match 3-2. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Klose and Ballack scored for Germany, while Nuno Gomes and Postiga scored the two goals for Portugal in the match. Midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger was elected man of the match after showing an excellent performance before being substituted by Clemens Fritz in the 83^rd minute.

Turkey, similarly, saw a hard competition for securing the second place in group A. Turkey started the tournament with a 2-0 defeat to Portugal and was not impressive in the first match. Turkey went in to the second match against co-host Switzerland knowing a defeat would seem them eliminated from the tournament. However, an injury time goal thanks to Arda Turan clinched them a 2-1 victory over Switzerland. Still, Turkey did not have a strong ground to progress to the quarter final ahead of the final group match because Turkish side needed a victory over strong Czech Republic side. However, confident Turkey team overcame Czech challenge setting one of the best come back victories in the history of European Championship. Turkey was trialing 2-0 with 15 minutes left in the match against Czech Republic, and at that time even a die hard fan of Turkey could not dream of a 3-2 victory that was actually materialized thanks to a 75^th minute goal from Arda Turan and two goals from Nihat Kahveci in the 87^th and 89^th minutes of the match, giving a thrilling end to the game. With that inspirational victory Turkey progressed to the last eight as the Group A runner up behind Portugal.

Turkey faced Group A winner Croatia who defeated Germany in the group stage. So, to some analysts, Croatia was a bit ahead of Turkey before the match. Fatih Terim’s boys continued their impressive run picking up a 3-1 penalty shootout victory after the 120 minute action ending in a 1-1 draw. Croatia also experienced the mental toughness of Turkey after conceding an equalizer in the injury time of the second half of extra time, just three minutes after Ivan Klasnic had put Croatia ahead in the match.

Germany vs Turkey: Head to Head and Recent Form
Germany and Turkey faced each other on four occasions so far, with Turkey winning twice and Germany once, other match ending in a goalless draw. So, you can see that Turkey is not less impressive against Germany. Their last meeting came two years back in 2005, when Turkey defeated Germany 2-1. The recent form of both the teams is pretty good. Both Germany and Turkey won five out of their last five matches in all competitions. However, Germany lost only one match against a draw, while Turkey lost two matches.

Well, one thing is for sure that both the teams are in impressive form at this moment given their performance in the quarter final matches in evidence. So, both the teams will go into the match full of confidence and would look to show their best to reach the final of Euro 2008.

German Midfielder Torsten Frings Fit for the Turkey Encounter
It is good news for the German teams that they are getting their experienced midfielder Torsten Frings for the semi final match against Turkey. Frings missed the quarter final victory over Portugal with fractured rib that he had suffered during Germany’s 1-0 victory over Austria in the last group match. However, Frings’s recovery from injury has come as a welcome-worry for German coach Joachim Loew. In the absence of Frings, the German coach changed his formation to 4-5-1 for quarter final match and played Thomas Hitzlsperger and Simon Rolfe in the centre midfield and both the players were excellent in the match. Now, Joachim Loew is in dilemma whether to stick to the winning combination or include Frings in the starting line up. However, the coach is very happy to get all 23 players fit ahead of the semi final match.

Reuters reported:

"I'm fortunate to be able to say that all 23 players trained today and are fit," Loew said at a news conference.

"Torsten trained completely normally, but with a protective bandage. He said he had no major problems. He will have to live with a nagging pain but as things stand he could play, yes."

"Frings is an important player and could return but, you know, we also say you should never change a winning team. I haven't put my mind to the lineup yet," said Loew.

Turkey Missing Key Players due to Injury and Suspension
Turkey has showed impressive performance in their last three matches and naturally, they can be hopeful once again ahead of Germany encounter. However, Turkey is suffering from injury and suspension that forced at least nine players out of their semi final match against Germany, leaving Coach Fatih Terim to pick up 11 players out of only 14 available players for the starting line up. This is definitely a big blow for Turkey. Striker Nihat Kahveci has been left out of the remaining tournament with thigh injury. Emre Gungor has also been out of the tournament with calf injury. Servet Cetin (hip and knee), Tumer Metin (groin) and Emre Belozoglu (hamstring) are doubtful for the semi final match.

I think, Turkey won’t mind with the absence of no. 1 goal keeper Volkan Demirel, who was sent off during Turkey’s 3-2 victory over Czech Republic in the final group match and missed the quarter final match and still has a match left to come out of the suspension, because experienced goal keeper Rustu Recbar who was excellent against Croatia in the quarter final match.

Turkey will also miss Tuncay Sanli, Arda Turan and Emre Asik who are on suspension after being shown yellow card in two back to back matches. The only good news for Turkey is that defensive midfielder Mehmet Aurelio will be back for the semi final match after spending one-match suspension. Despite the injury and suspension problems, UEFA said that they would not allow Turkey to call up more players as it is out of their rules. So, it seems to be a very tough task for Fatih Terim to cope up with the situation and lead Turkey to continue their superb form against Germany.

Joachim Loew Full of Praise for Turkey
Germany coach Joachim Loew has praised Turkey for their excellent performance so far in the tournament. Indicating the mental strength and self confidence of Turkey, Loew termed Turkey as an uncomfortable opponent. He admitted that Turkey has some technically strong players and can always strike back.

BBC reported:

"After winning two or three games, the euphoria is huge and Turkey are extremely convinced in their ability," he stated.

"They have been an uncomfortable opponent throughout this tournament and have some technically strong players.

"Turks have a remarkable mentality, are self-confident and can always strike back."

Reports also have it that the coach considered resigning following Germany’s 1-2 defeat to Croatia in the group stage. However, he himself turned it down thinking of giving a flair of optimism to the team.

Germany vs Turkey: Online Live Score and Updates
There is no doubt, fans on both sides are eagerly waiting for this match. I think, many of you are already planning to watch the match on television, but some of you might not be that much fortunate to watch the match on television due to inaccessibility to the channel the match is being telecast on or lack of enough time. However, you can get the online live score and updates of the match even when you are on the go from different online live score websites. Here, I am giving some links of online live score websites:

Live Score
Goalzz
Euro 2008
Goal.com
football-data
Sky Sports
Live Score.cz

There are many who think Germany is favorite in the match. Yes, Germany is favorite on pen and paper, but I would not like to put any team ahead of their opponent before the match kicks off, considering the confidence of both sides ahead of the match. Though Turkey is missing some key players for the match, their main strength lies in the team unity, and Germany can not afford to take Turkey lightly. Similarly, Turkey will find it very difficult to break Germany as they did against Croatia and Czech Republic. In fact, both the sides have equal chance in the match. I just hope, players of both the sides will live up to the expectation of their fans showing their best possible performance in the match in what it could be another classic match.