Whew!

Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man! What a match! Not that it was a brilliant football match, at least not on Germany's side, but it was a brilliantly fought one. Turkey on top in the first half, Germany not really attacking but managing to go into half time with a 1-1 draw. Schweinsteiger really pulling it through for Germany. He saved the match for Germany right there.

In the second half we got to see Germany attacking quite a bit more and then ..... the telecast disappears. Talk about bad timing. We miss Klose's header giving Germany a 2-1 lead and get the coverage back just in time to see Senturk score the equaliser. It looked like Turkey had done it again - pulled a last minute goal out of nowhere to save their match.

But then surprise surprise .. Germany pulls a "Turkey" out of its hat. Lahm manages to fire one past Rustu in the 90th minute and Germany wins 3-2. Sweet revenge for Lahm.



Due credit to Turkey. They played their hearts out and if I'm truthful they did at least deserve a shot at extra time .. Turkey was the better side today. But in the end Germany's experience got them through and I for one am overjoyed with this result.

(Don't think I could have lasted out extra time (and maybe penalties) with the telecast disappearing all the time ... Big thanks to BBC Sport for giving me ball by ball coverage)