Germany 3 Turkey 2BEFORE THE game a section of the German support displayed a huge banner with the message; "Vienna: The destination of our journey". At the time, they can hardly even have begun to imagine just how rocky this thrilling last leg of their team's three-week road trip to the Austrian capital was about to prove.
Germany progressed all right but they'll have been so very relieved to have done so in the face of a Turkish performance that merited much more than the cruelty of Philipp Lahm's last gasp winner.
Faith Terim's depleted side had taken the game to the three-times champions with an emphatic display of attacking football. Briefly, for they do not like to linger in the lead, they even had their noses in front courtesy of an Ugur Boral strike but even after goals by Bastian Schweinsteiger and Miroslav Klose had left them chasing things yet again, they showed tremendous character to grab a late equaliser. Sometimes, however, the Germans simply will not be denied.
With four players suspended and another five injured, the Turks can at least return home satisfied that they could have done no more. They had been expected to take a rather cautious approach to this, their second ever major championship semi-final.
But if Joachim Loew's side had expected to have the run of things, their mistake quickly became apparent. Fatih Terim's men started here as they had finished the games against the Czechs, Swiss and Croatians - at full speed - and it was clear they were going to take a bit of stopping.
Up front, Semih Senturk was ostensibly playing by himself but the frequency and pace with which his team-mates bore down on the German back four suggested they had come believing the old adage about attack being the best form of defence. More than once Germany looked less sure of how best to afford some protection to their somewhat fragile looking goalkeeper.
Part of the problem for Loew was that the midfield combination that had worked so well against the Portuguese was getting his side nowhere here. Though the centre held up relatively well, the Turks repeatedly swept past the wide men on their way towards goal. And when given the chance to play their way out of trouble, the Germans repeatedly gave away possession.
The Turks took full advantage. Over the course of the first half they may have just edged the contest in terms of possession but they had nine efforts on target compared to just one for the Germans.
That solitary effort, though, was an equalising goal, not unlike the opener against the Portuguese, with Lukas Podolski getting down the left before crossing low for Bastian Schweinsteiger who produced a fine first-time finish.
It was much needed too from a German point of view for having taken the lead through Ugur Boral after Colin Kazim-Richards' looping shot had come back off the bar and Jens Lehmann had been unable to prevent the follow-up slipping through his legs, Turkish spirits, consistently high during this tournament, briefly threatened to soar.
At half-time, Torsten Frings was brought on to steady things just in front of Per Mertesacker and Christoph Metzelder but the Werder Bremen midfielder repeatedly found himself having to play alongside them as the Turkish hunt for another, precious taste of the lead continued.
The attempt to keep them at bay was repeatedly haphazard and there were a couple of close calls but the Germans still somehow ended up with cause for complaint when Sabri Sarioglu bundled into Lahm as the full back turned inside Kazim-Richards and into the box. Whether it was just inside or outside provided justifiable cause for debate but how the Swiss match official could simply wave play on was something of a mystery.
But Lahm's long angled cross after 79 minutes caused enough uncertainty between Recber Rustu and his centre back Gokhan Zan for Klose, making his 80th appearance for his country here, to capitalise on from 10 yards or so.
Still second best, the Germans looked to have done enough but the Turks weren't finished. After throwing themselves forward in pursuit of another late lifeline, Lahm was beaten down the right and Lehmann came to gather Sabri Sarioglu's low cross a yard from his near post when he should have dived for it. Instead Semih stole in to slip the ball home from very close range. The noise of the Turkish fans must have been quite something but it was hard to hear anything from the Turkish quarter of the press box.
Just as their players were daring, perhaps, to contemplate extra-time, however, the Germans struck once more with Lahm playing the ball to Thomas Hitzlsperger whose brilliant return pass was blasted into the top left corner by the left back.
It was a breathtaking finish to a remarkable game in which the Germans had been none too convincing. Still, come Sunday, they will be in Vienna.
GERMANY: (4-5-1) Lehmann; Friedrich, Mertesacker, Metzelder, Lahm; Schweinsteiger Hitzlsperger, Ballack, Rolfes (Frings, half-time), Podolsky; Klose (Jansen, 93 mins). Subs not used: Enke, Adler, Fritz, Westermann, Gomez, Neuville, Trochowski, Borowski, Odonkor, Kuranyi.
TURKEY: (4-1-4-1) Rustu; Sabri, Mehmet Topal, Gokhan, Hakan; Mehmet Aurelio; Kazim (Tumer, 92 mins), Hamit, Ayhan (Mevlut, 81 mins), Ugur (Gokdeniz, 84 mins); Semih. Subs not used: Zengin, Cetin, Emre, Gungor, Nihat. Booked: Senturk. Att: 40,000
Referee: M Busacca (Switzerland).
