The most important thing about last night's game is that it seems that everything stayed quiet all through the night. Although there some scuffles here and there it looks like the Turkish and the German fans celebrated together. In Cologne a group of stupid hoolings wanted to start a riot at some bar in the inner city but that was surpressed by the police quickly and so everything stayed calm. After all the rave and hype that preceeded the match it is relieving to see that nothing happened. Turkey was the better team after all and Germany did what they are known for: never give up. This is what most of the European newspapers lined out that germany are the team to beat. Although I hate to look back at times when a German team played horribly but still won this team looks a little different. At least they have to potential to put up something outrageous. When coach Jogi Löw points out that the team who will take the field on Sunday will definetely look different everybody will believe him. The problem is that no one knows what the team will look like. Will the put up a stellar performance as they did against Portugal. Or will they play like in the match against Croatia. No one knows and so it is anybody's guess how they will perform in the final on Sunday.
Russia vs Spain 0-3 (Semifinal 2)
Brilliant stuff by Spain. With tonight's performance they simply outclassed Russia. The first half didn't look like it was able to hold up to the promised fanfare everybody was waiting for. This might have been due to the weather with the heavy rain pouring down on the players and somehow Russia looked a little more convincing than Spain then. But after the break the tables had turned and when Xavi broke it open with his goal the floodgates were open for good. Spain was playing like a true champion and I always find it amazing how this young team can dominate an opponent. Everybody was expecting Russia to look way different from what they had shown in the group match, but it turned out to be a copy of what we had seen a few weeks ago. Russia tried to hold up with what Spain was playing and in the end they failed to deliver. Even when top scorer David Villa had to leave the pitch with and injury they were still combining in midfield and looking for a way to put the ball to their lone striker Fernando Torres.
This will be a tough task for Germany on Sunday. Spain looked hungry, Germany looked tired and worn out. If they pull themselves together Germany might come through but I have my doubts about the German defense trying to stop the Spanish short-pass game in front of the penalty box.
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