Turks not relying on miracles - Terim

EURO 2008 NEWS: THE SCHEDULING was tight and Joachim Loew broke instinctively into a smile here at St Jakob-Park yesterday when a Uefa official told him the German pre-match press conference had to be cut short to make way for the Turks.

The large contingent of travelling Turkish media were in their element, though, for they had looked worried that, with the cheers of supporters outside confirming their players were already in the stadium, time with Fatih Terim might be limited on this most pressured of preview days.

In the end, though, the heat did for them. The large pressroom was stifling and the coach quickly grew tired of being asked about "miracles" and "luck" (either good or bad).

"Einstein said there are two ways to live your life," he had said early on in an attempt to prompt a different line of questioning. "One is to believe in miracles and live your life accordingly. The other is to believe that nothing is a miracle. I'm part of the second group."

Terim, though, was quietly impressive as he dismissed suggestions bad luck with injuries and suspensions had all but left him and his players in need of divine intervention this evening.

His goalkeeper Volkan Demirel, defender Emre Asik and midfielders Arda Turan and Tuncay Sanli are suspended. Nihat Kahveci and Emre Gungor were ruled out by injury even before yesterday. Emre Belozoglu, said Terim, is out too. Tumer Metin has at most, "30 or 45 minutes" of football in him.

"We have problems," he said, demonstrating a gift for understatement, "but we will expect the players who come into the team to be just as good as those we are without.

"And I am not complaining. Ask the coaches of the teams - including the world champions - whether they would prefer to watch this game on television or be here with all of my injuries and suspensions and I think you would only get one answer."

There followed a swift change of mood when somebody made the mistake of asking a long question that made another passing reference to luck.

"When I issued a schedule for this tournament six months ago," barked the irritated Terim, "perhaps you didn't believe me when the schedule I set out covered the whole of June, but it seems I was right."

Sure enough, the next questioner kicked off with a public assurance his return flight was booked for next Monday before adding, presumably as it dawned on him he might be lynched afterwards for breaking ranks, that several of his colleagues were also due to fly home then.

Privately, though, the Turkish media are understandably concerned that what is a thoroughly makeshift team will simply find the challenge of containing a full-strength Germany too much.

The spectacular displays of collective resilience produced as they came from behind in three of their four games so far make them just about impossible to definitively write off. But with Loew having to worry only about whether to bring Torsten Frings back into the side so soon after the midfielder sustained a fractured rib, the Germans look to be in an utterly commanding position.

In the circumstances, it is hardly surprising Loew looked relaxed last night even after his squad's flight into Basle had been delayed with the result that their training session was late getting under way.

The German coach performed impressively against the Portuguese in the quarter-final, when his tactical changes strangled the passing game of a midfield boasting a string of gifted technicians. Here, however, it is hard to imagine the team's formation or approach will be remotely dictated by what he expects of the Turks.

The team will revert to using a second striker, it seems likely, and while Mario Gomez accompanied his coach to meet the media last night, Bastian Schweinsteiger's display on Thursday should comfortably ensure that he keeps his place while Lukas Podolski partners Miroslav Klose in attack.

For all his counterpart's problems, however, Loew insisted he was conscious this Turkish side would not be beaten easily and that any lead would have to be vigorously defended to the final whistle.

"Technically Turkish football has come on hugely in the last 10 or 15 years but perhaps the biggest difference is that when they went behind before their heads tended to go down and then you knew they were beaten," he said. "As we've seen over the last two weeks, that's changed. They're never beaten now."

Germany, of course, have had much the better of the sides' previous meetings, but Turkey can take encouragement from recent encounters, particularly the home win and away draw during the qualifiers for Euro 2000.

It's 54 years, however, since these nations last met in a finals tournament, and that, as it happens, was here in Switzerland when the Germans beat tonight's opponents not once but twice and by an aggregate score of 11 goals to three on the way to lifting their first World Cup.

This has already proven itself to be a tournament for underdogs but you get the feeling the Turkish press may just have to bring forward those flights home as the Germans step up their pursuit of a fourth European crown.

Unless, that is, Terim and company can perform yet another miracle of sorts.

GERMANY(possible, 4-4-2): Lehmann; Freidrich, Mertesacker, Metzelder, Lahm; Schweinsteiger, Rolfes, Ballack, Hitzlsperger; Podolski, Klose.

TURKEY(possible, 4-4-2): Rustu; Altintop, Ugur, Gokhan, Balta; Sabri, Gokdeniz, Mehmet, Aurelio; Kazim, Semih.