Euro 2008: A Tribute To Fatih Terim and The Turks!

When the Turkish team's jet flew in from Istanbul towards Switzerland and Austria, nobody gave them a chance of taking glory home.

Pitted in a group against Portugal, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic, they were not even favourites to make it out of Group A, but they kept hope in their abilities.

The "comeback" kings, as they are now known, defeated Switzerland (2-1) coming from behind, and shocked Czech Republic (3-2). Considering the fact that they were down 2-0 until the 74th minute against the Czechs, they staged a remarkable comeback using goals from Arda Turan (75) and Nihat (87, 89).

The Turks were having an incredible run when they faced Croatia. Volkan Demirel (first-choice goalkeeper) was suspended, but they brought in the experienced Rustu, and using Fatih Terim's "never say die" attitude, they defeated a tough Croatian side featuring Luka Modric in unbelievable circumstances.

No goals in 90 minutes of play, extra time came calling, where Croatia stunned the Turks scoring in the 119th minute, but less than 60 seconds later, Semih Senturk silenced the Croatian crowd. The game went to penalties where Rustu held his nerve as Modric and Rakitic both missed and another incredible match had been witnessed by the world.

In the semi finals, they were pitted against Germany, who were favourites. Many said Turkey would run out of gas, but they didn't. The Turks were a depleted side, including only 13 fit players.

Nihat, Tuncay, Arda, Emre, Servet Cenin, Demirel, Emre Asik, and Kardeniz were all missing. In spite of such a huge loss, the Turks went into the game positive and motivated.

They truly had nothing to lose, they had already stunned the world playing some incredible football. Hats off to Fatih Terim and Turkey for keeping hope until the final whistle, for believing the "impossible" could be achieved.

Turkey dominated the first 20 minutes of play, during which Colin Kazim Kazim (Richards) hit the cross bar twice (he probably thought his luck was out).

Ugur Boral did well to put in the shot which had rebounded from the cross bar the second time. Lehmann looked helpless. 1-0 Turkey in the 21st minute.

Bastian Schweinsteiger made an incredible run through the middle three minutes later, and used Lukas Podolski's pin-point cross to level the score with a "world class" finish.

The game toddled along, with both side having opportunities. Podolski should have scored at the hour mark, but he failed to hit the target.

Sabri and Ugur Boral came close, but never really looked like scoring. Semih Senturk was kept very quiet by Metzelder and Friedrich.

When everyone thought extra time beckoned, I had a funny thought—could Turkey do it again?

Mirsolav Klose put the Germans ahead in the 79th minute erasing all doubts. A horrible error by Rustu, who should have held his ground, caused the Germans to go up 2-1.

Semih Senturk scored in the 86th minute using a low cross from Sabri to put it past Lehmann. Everybody must have thought, "Wow! This is incredible! Not again! Can they do it again?"

Unfortunately for the Turks, Phillip Lahm engineered a moment of brilliance to snatch the match from Turkey's grasp.

When full time and extra time was almost inevitable, Phillip Lahm charged up field, and cutting in from the left wing, he found Hitzlsperger, who had earlier hammered some incredible strikes, high and wide.

Hitzlsperger's brilliant return ball found Lahm, who took an incredible first touch and kept composure to fire Germany into the final.

The "killer blow" ended Turkey's run, but I salute the Turks for playing their heart out and entertaining the world. Their attitude was inspiring, Fatih Terim proved his credibility, and the Turks fought on despite missing several key warriors.

Turkish football will benefit a lot due to this performance. Interest in Turkish football will grow and their players might be captured by big clubs.

That's a wrap, hats off to Turkey! Spain and Russia meet tonight. I think the other dark horse, Russia's run, will end tonight, and Spain will eventually triumph against Russia.