Unwarranted Self Importance: Just one more!

So.

Germany won today.

YAY!

3-2, against Turkey, a very worthy adversary. I won't say a single negative thing about the Turks. They played wonderfully, surely indicative of the way they have been playing this entire tournament. I'm only sorry that I ended up having to root against them (I've explained before...my support of Germany is undying). Certainly the referee could have been better (I'm thinking of a blatant foul in the penalty area that should have resulted in a pk for Germany), but overall it was a good game. Thrilling to watch - very nerve-wracking. As much as I like an exciting game of football, I was a mess thinking my beloved Deutsche Nationalmannschaft would fall victim to the miraculous Turkish comeback kings. Not so.

I truly believe that Germany earned their win. It probably should have been easier against Turkey's 2nd string, but honestly. They were beasts on that pitch. Such fight I have never seen. Aaahhh. I love football.

Some fleeting analysis:
WHY would Joachim Löw start Rolfes and Hitzlsperger instead of Frings?! I'm sorry, I know that the formation worked against Portugal, but if Frings is fit, you put him on. Period. The man is a friggin' beefhouse (a made up word that I love, bitch). That, and he and Ballack hold the midfield together like nobody's business. Werd. Anyhow, Rolfes got whacked in the cranium (see pictures below) right before half time, so Frings went on in the beginning of the 2nd half, as it should have been from the beginning. Anyhow. Hopefully he'll learn from that experiment and will start Frings in the final.

Ballack was quieter than I would've liked to see. But Turkey plays chaos football, so maybe he was just confused. Schweinsteiger is turning out to be SUCH an asset to the team. I look forward to watching him in the coming years. Podolski, too. Klose could do better, methinks. As could Lehmann (and HOW). Lahm is fantastic. The "magical dwarf", indeed. When he gets his eye on goal, you better watch out.

Next stop, Vienna, for the final against either Russia or Spain. I'm so excited! I don't want to jinx it, but I think Germany's going to go all the way! They need to up their game, and be more concentrated than today, as it was a very narrow victory (Lahm's goal in the 90th minute...wow). I suppose, however, that it was only fitting that Turkey would go out with a last-minute goal as they did to foe after foe.

Anywho. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the match:

Captain Michael Ballack

The cranial collision. OUCH.

That's pretty gnarly.

FUCK! Look at all that blood! By the way, they put stitches and shots of anesthetic in his head on the sidelines and sent him back on for the last bit of the 1st half.

The wounded Turkish player. In case you can't tell what's going on here, they are STAPLING his gaping head wound shut on the sideline before sending him back on for the rest of the game. People who say soccer is for sissies have clearly never watched a single game. Goddamn.