7’ Just turned on the Germany-Turkey game – no score so far.
12’ Turkey so far seems to have the majority of the possession – they've forced Germany to play mainly in their own half and have been pretty aggressive on the attack.
13’ Germany has possession, but give it back to turkey after a few passes near midfield.
13’ Another strong shot from Kazim-Kazim ricochets off the top bar– why isn't this man playing for England?! Oh, right, he's much too good to play for England...
14’ Two corners for Turkey in a row, but nothing comes of either.
16’ Germany is passing it around in the back half – they finally get it forward and Turkey takes it away from them.
17’ Free kick for Germany, taken by Klose, saved by the Turkish keeper.
17’ Germany gets a hold of it from Turkey up front, a bit of passing it around.
18’ Michael Ballack misses a header, Germany takes a corner and the Turkish keeper punches it away.
20’ Germany looks as though they may finally be starting to play football… Turkey still looks the better team, but it looks a little more equal now.
22’ Goal Turkey! It was only a matter of time, really. It came back off the bar on the first shot (from Kazim-Kazim? I couldn't tell), but Boral hit it in past Lehmann on the second go.
25’ Schweistiger slides across the turf, his shorts riding all the way up. Mmm, soccer legs…
26’ And Schweisteiger scores! Podoski gets a cross in front of a couple of defenders, and Schweisteiger knocks it in. That’s the first real chance Germany has had, and they've scored! Maybe now we have a real game…
29’ Germany free kick. It comes almost straight back out for a throw in.
29’ Turkey takes it all the way back down, only for Lehmann to grab the header with ease.
30’ German corner is knocked away from the goal. There’s a bit of a struggle in front of the goal, then Turkey takes it back up the field.
31’ Turkey gets a free kick from well out, and Lehmann is forced to punch it over.
32’ Two more Turkey corners come to nothing. Someone makes a weak shot, Lehmann grabs it and off goes Germany. They’re replaying Schweisteger's goal.
34’ Podoski gets it alone up front and kicks it over.
37’ Kazim-Kazim is on the turf – free kick for Turkey.
38’ Boral takes the kick – took them long enough to set it up – he kicks it directly to Lehmann, who hits it away a bit awkwardly. He was lucky none of the Turkish players got a head on it.
40’ Someone German (Rolfes, I guess) is bleeding – The ref looks almost happy about it. Someone Turkish is gushing blood from the back of his head. I hope he’s all right – Turkey can’t afford to lose anyone else.
42’ Yet another great shot by Turkey goes just over.
43’ Great tackle by Turkey stops a promising German attack..
44’ It looks like Frings is getting ready to go on. And Rolfes is back on the field, for a few minutes at least.
Halftime – It’s been a great first half. Contrary to all expectations, Turkey is the team making Germany look slow and inexperienced. Really, they’re unlucky to be tied. Germany has not been playing great football, though they got a bit better after Turkey’s goal. Schwiesteiger has had a few impressive moments, and Podoski wasn't too bad toward the end, but Michael Ballack has been essentially invisible and Lehmann is lucky to have had so many shots going over and wide. Turkey, on the other hand, has been exceptional all the way around, especially considering what a makeshift team they have. Kazim-Kazim has come very close to scoring multiple times, and I’ll be surprised if he doesn't net a least one by the end of the game.
46’ Here we go with the second half. Frings is on – for Rolfe, I assume.
47’ Germany already looks more dangerous in the first few minutes of this half than they did for most of the first half.
50’ A bit of miscommunication on the part of the Germans, a good tackle from Turkey – but the Turkish quickly lose it again and the German are on attack.
51’ Lahm goes down in the penalty box, and the official is wagging his finger at someone, but play continues. From the replay you can definitely see that it should have been a penalty.
52’ Yellow card for Semh for an ugly tackle on Frings. Really, boys, you can do better than that.
54’ Just when you thought Turkey was going to run away with the game, Germany has really stepped it up this half.
55’ Fierce shot over the top by Hitzsperger.
57’ Another strong German attack, another tackle by Turkey – this time on Ballack – and German is given a somewhat questionable free kick. Luckily, the Turkish deal with it pretty handily.
Where has my game gone?! There’s a power outage in Switzerland, apparently… We’re getting yet another review of the first half and that foul on Lahm in the meantime. I’m not really sure there’s anything new to say about any of it. It was already pretty obvious that the ref missed a blatant foul, and I think this is almost exactly (or maybe even exactly) the same description of Turkey’s goal that we got in the first half. And now we’re back!
66’ German cross goes too high and meets no one on the other side, the Turkish get a throw-in and manage to get it down to the other end, only to pass it back.
67’ Turkey still has possession. They get it deep into the German half, manage a cross directly in front of the goal, but again there is no one on the other end.
68’ Schweistegier briefly looks as though he might make a run of it, but Turkey steals it back.
69’ Corner for Turkey. It’s pushed out, brought back in, then booted down the field, only for Turkey to reclaim it. There’s a bit of a struggle for possession at midfield.
70’ Turkey seems to have won out. For a moment it looked like they were going to get stuck in their own half, but it gets down to Kazim-Kazim, who is yanked down by his shirt near the edge of the penalty box. The officials don’t see it, though, and Germany gets the free kick.
71’ Another Turkish cross in front of the goal with no one there to finish. Kazim-Kazim appears to have been either the crosser or the intended finisher. His face keeps appearing on the screen. Can’t say I mind.
73’ Is that Hitzsperger again? Anyway, his shot goes just wide. He’s asking the official for a corner kick, but not getting it.
Oh dear god, the game’s gone again. There was a lightning strike apparently, the first outage, but who knows what this is. Possibly the same thing?
Ach, Klose has scored for the Germans! There is still no video, though…
They've just showed the stats for the game so far. The shot count is about 17 to 6 in Turkey’s favor. The Turkish have simply not been able to finish.
There’s the video of Klose's goal a nice clean header into an open goal. The keeper had come way out but didn't get there in time.
And Turkey’s scored again! Senturk just knocked it in on a cross from Sabri. Turkey has been unbelievable on the comeback in this tournament. Five minutes or so left.
89’ Senturk shoots it wide from well out.
90’ Lahm scores for Germany! Beautiful run up and finish. The Turkish really looked out of it on that one.
And Germany’s won it! I was really hoping for Turkey to pull off a miracle on this one, but you really have to give it to the Germans. They may have had a poor first half, but they really managed to pull it together at the end. What a game, for both teams. Either of them could have won it, I think, and just to have been that close was a great accomplishment for Turkey. I have to say, I didn't mind the German victory nearly as much since Captain Caveman was out of the picture for basically the entire game. My hatred of Ballack is quite irrational, I'm aware. Other than his Neanderthal looks and Chelsea jersey, there is nothing especially objectionable about him. Nonetheless, I most strenuously object to him, and I'm not excited to see him in the final. I just wish there was some chance he'd spend the whole game on the bench.
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