 Well,
the Germans have done it again. After
failing to impress during the group
stages, scraping past Austria 1-0 in
their final group match they put in a
superb performance in the quarter
finals, beating much fancied Portugal
3-2 thanks to goals from Schweinsteiger,
Klose and Michael Ballack.
What will have pleased Joachim Low was
the way in which the Germans controlled
Christiano Ronaldo, with Mertesacker,
Metzelder and Rolfes in midfield doing a
superb containing job on the Portugese
star, and it really seems that Michael
Ballack is now playing some of this best
football of the tournament, and in
Phillipp Lahm Germany have one of the
best left backs in the tournament.
They will feel pretty confident coming
into this game as Turkey have hit
something of an injury crisis, with no
less than nine players unavailable for
this semi final encounter.
.
 Fatih
Terim's Turkey side have shown superb
commitment and spirit throughout the
tournament, coming from 2-0 down to win 3-2
against the Czechs and knocking out a much
fancied Croatia side on penalties in the
semi finals.
What will be yet another injury blow to them
though is that their star striker Nihat Kahveci is
out of Euro 2008 with a thigh injury and
this is a major blow to the confidence of
the team, and lets not forget they are
already without Tuncay Sanli, Arda Turan and
Emre Asik.
Not surprisingly, the bookmakers have
Germany as 1/2 (1.5) favourites to win the game,
while the draw is 3/1 (4.0) and the Turkey
away win is 7/1 (8.0).
Sometimes during a tournament a team comes
around where it seems that their name is
already written on the cup, as they seem to
scrape and survive through thick and thin
and eventually come up winners, as we saw
with Greece four years earlier.
So do I fancy Turkey you say?
Well, no, not exactly.
For a while I thought that Turkey may just
be such a team but in reality I cant really
see them beating a German side starting to
find their form in the semi finals of a
major competition.
Betfair offer a free £25 bet on this game and the best bet for this game looks to be
Germany to win @ 1.5.
I have to take my Fez off to Fatih Terim
and his Turkey side in that they definitely
have great team spirit and a definite 'never
say die' attitude, but I do feel they are
lacking quality in depth for this game, and
they simply have just too many injuries and
suspensions.
They have huge problems in defence, with
starting centre backs Emre Gungor and Servet
Cetin out and their other centre back Emre
Asik is suspended. This leaves only Gokhan
Zan as the only recognised man at the back,
together with left back Hakan Balta, and
these two did not look confident against
Croatia, with Gokhan's mistake leading to
the Croatian goal and also Olic looked to be
all over him during the game.
With an attack of Schweinsteiger, Klose,
Podolski and Ballack waiting to be
unleashed, the likes of Gokhan will be
pressurised at every opportunity and I think
this is where the game will be won for the
Germans.
Germany do look as if they are
finally getting into gear after a slow start
to the tournament and they played a
very disciplined game against Portugal, with Ballack leading from midfield.
The odds are not great, but with Nihat
missing up front and some key defensive
injuries, Germany should have too much for
Turkey tonight and progress to yet another
final.
© Free-Bets.uk 2008
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