Thanks to a 3:2 (1:1) win over Turkey in Basel on Wednesday evening, the German national team booked their place in the EURO 2008 final. 39,374 spectators crammed into the capacity filled St. Jakobs-Park and saw Bastian Schweinsteiger (28’), Miroslav Klose (79’) and Philipp Lahm (90’) get the goals to put Germany into their first European Championships final for twelve years. Turkey had taken the lead through Ugur in the 22nd minute and equalised to make it 2:2 with a goal from Semih with four minutes to go.
German national team coach Joachim Löw started with the same eleven that began in the quarter final against Portugal. The selection meant that there were eight players in the German first eleven who were also on the pitch as Germany went down 2:0 to Italy in the 2006 World Cup semi final.
From the Werder Bremen representatives, only Per Mertesacker was involved throughout the complete 90 minutes of is side’s success. Torsten Frings, who initially was left on the bench having broken a rib in the group game against Austria, came on to replace Simon Rolfes at the break. On the night neither Tim Borowski nor Clemens Fritz were used but they will both be hoping to play some part in Sunday’s final.