Turkey v Germany - last stand for the men in white

Something changed in the runes of European football last night at the St Jakob-Park stadium in Basel. Turkey’s Mehmet Aurelio hides his face after the Germans bushwacked a late winner and a path to the Euro 2008 final on Sunday.  But Turkey had outplayed Germany with neat open football and made the men in white look leaden and humping Conference level oafs. Germany attacked three times - all down the left handside. The first goal was a deft slip in from a cross; then a pumping long ball for a Klose header and finally a supber drive, give and go and Philipp Lahm was there again to bang it home. That was it - Germany did nothing else all night, their defence looked awful and the Turks might have had a hatfull. In a sureal moment the rain in Vienna, where the TV HQ is, was so bad that pictures were blacked out across the world and the fan zones cleared. In that passing of time the Germans had invisibly acceded to the luck that had washed the Turks this far, but in so doing they had sold their soul. They may go on to win the tournament, although either Spain or Russia on this showing could thrash them, but one senses something deeper afoot as one did after Holland’s thumping of Italy and France, that football has changed, power has changed hands, the beautiful game is cast in a new light.

German manager Joachim Low said his team were “trembling and tumbling”. Turkey manager Fatih Terim said 70 million Turkish hearts had been beating with the team. He is expected to stand down and look for a club job in Europe.

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