Respect!

Respect! The word has appeared in white on black throughout the European Championship. Each stadium has several perimeter billboards with it on and all of the players shirts appear to feature it on their sleeves. I've been wondering precisely what the reason was but believe it became clear this evening as Turkey lost out 3-2 to Germany in Vienna.

What it was obviously meant to do was inpire managers, players and teams to play with the right frame of mind and to approach the beautiful game in the way supporters always hope they will see it. Turkey did just this tonight and have earned my respect. They leave the tournament with enormous credit, far more than I was prepared to give them in my pre-match assessment.

Fatih Terim, Turkey's manager, obviously thought long and hard about the gameplan for this evening and probably recognised that his side would be extremely unlikely to hold their more able opponents for 120 minutes, given his depleted squad, and that their chances of actually beating Germany in a penalty shoot-out were even less likely. As a consequence, he told his players to go out and enjoy their last game and to have no regrets. They did just that.

Turkey played with confidence throughout the side and spent much of the first half attacking the Germans and creating a succession of chances. Colin Kazim-Richards again played above himself and was desperately unlucky not to have scored before his angled chip beat Lehmann and came off the bar for Ugur Boral to bundle weakly past the stunned German keeper. Turkey only held on for minutes before Germany's best (only?) move of the half saw Podolski break down the left and cross for Schweinsteiger to flick nonchalently beyond Rustu in the Turkish goal for 1-1.

At half-time you felt the Germans would respond to a half-time tongue-lashing and assert control before the hour. They did not and Turkey continued to play carefree football which was only missing a quality finisher. Then came the moment of their ultimate downfall. Phillip Lahm was brought down on the left-hand edge of the box by Sabri for what was a free-kick at worst and a penalty at best. Amazingly, the well-placed Swiss referree waved play-on to enormous German protests.

Things got tricky after this for the television viewers in Europe (and presumably the rest of the world) as a local power cut removed pictures from our homes on several occasions for five minutes or so at a time. At least we were watching on the BBC and had the continued commentary on Five Live.

With 15 minutes left, Miroslav Klose beats Rustu to a cross and heads German undeservedly ahead. Turkey redouble their efforts and incredibly force an equaliser with minutes remaining as Lehmann is beaten on his near-post in embarrassing fashion. With extra time looming it is left for Phillip Lahm to finally gain personal revenge for the penalty that he should have had and he does so in style firing home after a one-two with Thomas Hitzlsperger.

So, we've had a really entertinaing game in the semi that most predicted would be a drab affair. Presumably, the fireworks anticipated in the other semi between Russian and Spain won't materialise and we will watch a bore-draw concluded on penalties tomorrow? Andrei Arshavin should be interesting to watch tomorrow night as he sets out to impress the Spanish public. His interview today about the possibility of playing for Barcelona looked stage managed and was embarrassing as he went on about his lifetime ambition to play for his boyhood club etc etc - all this after a statement a number of days ago about his dream of playing in the world's best domestic competition, the Premier League. St Petersburg will do without him next season whatever happens.