Certainly the most unlikely of the four Euro 2008 semifinalists is Turkey, which has pulled off some truly amazing comebacks in this year's tournament.
Yet it's hard to see the Turks upsetting powerhouse Germany in the first semifinal, which is Wednesday afternoon in the U.S. Turkey will be down to only 14 eligible players and will be missing several of its top ones, so it's little surprise that Germany is a big -245 money line favorite on WagerWeb.com.
Starting goalkeeper Volkan Demirel will be serving the second game of his two-match ban, while Arda Turan, Tuncay Sanli and Emre Asik each picked up their second yellow card in the quarterfinal win over Croatia and will miss Wednesday's contest as well. Injuries have also hit Turkey hard, with Nihat Kahveci (thigh), Emre Gungor (calf), and Servet Cetin (hip) out, while Tumer Metin and captain Emre Belozoglu are only available for light training and are doubtful.
UEFA on Monday denied Demirel's appeal of his two-game suspension."We have to deal with it, but we are still not afraid of any opponent," defender Gokhan Zan said. "Of course, Germany is the favorite to beat us because they always do better and better when a tournament advances. We must rely on the same courageous football that has brought us this far."
After being dismantled by Croatia in group play, the Germans were in disarray and called a private team meeting sans coach Joachim Low was called. Out of that came a refocused team and a new formation for the Germans, who switched to a lone striker (Miroslav Klose up top) and built around the talents of midfielder Michael Ballack, who's been given more freedom with the addition of two defensive midfielders to support him.
Yet it's Lukas Podolski who has been Germany's best player so far. He has been the Germans' most consistent player on the attack and has three goals in Euro 2008.
Turkey has never reached the finals of the European Championships, while Germany is no stranger to this stage of the competition, having reached either the final four or the last two on seven occasions (including this one) since its first appearance in the competition back in 1972.
Since German reunification the sides have met on four occasions. Turkey won the first two 1-0, the third was drawn 0-0, and the fourth - the only match played this century - saw Turkey oust Germany 2-1 in Istanbul in a friendly.
Bet on Euro 2008 at WagerWeb.com
No comments:
Post a Comment