sportsblogger

   The 2008 Euro has been very captivating and exciting. Todays match between Turkey and Germany was no different. With two early goals in the first half, it was very obvious this match was going to be a shoot out.

   Of course the stakes were high with a win and your into the finals of the UEFA European championship. With the first point scored by Turkey, a team that this tournament has made a habit of last minute goal, scoring in the 22nd minute making this a likely strikers dream.

   Then 4 minutes later the German team struck back with a beautiful goal set up by an amazing pass by Podolski to Schweinsteiger. With a fast moving match like this, no one can complain.

   But just as the match is tied going into the 60th minute, the weather in Basel chose to knock out the international feed. Many watching on ESPN here in the U.S. were left to wonder what was going on.

   All that was on the screen was the thousands of people at the fan stations outside of the stadium. After listening to the reports of many auto-manufatorers in Germany either closing for the day or pushing back shifts so their employee’s can watch the game, it’s hardly imaginable what was going through these German fans heads as the feed was gone.

   Five minutes go by and still no sign of the match, just ESPN’s commentators trying to analyze a game that was starting to hit its stride. Ok, now we are 10 minutes into the black out, the game is close to hitting its 80th minute when Klose scores, but there is still no live feed.

   Well, thats it! Germany locked it up, and finally the live feed is back. Time to watch as Germany coast into the finals, surely Turkey, who is playing like their legs are gone, does not have another comeback left.

   Again we lose the international feed, but really its over right? Wrong. Turkey, the comeback kids, have done it again and scored in the 86th minute on a great pass from Sabri to Semih that inches past the German goalie.

   Incredible, the hope is now for the weather to hold up for the 15 minute extra period that will ensue, but again we lose the feed. ESPN scrambles to try and get their update desk ready, while we watch the fan stations. Then something happened that was obvious from the German fans, the German squad scored in the 90th minute to lead 3-2.

   A valiant effort by Turkey and those who worked hard to get the international feed back up and running. Germany proved too much for Turkey but just by a little. The feed blackout proved to help the games’ excitement, with the exception of the final goal.

   Tomorrows second semifinal is a match between Russia and Spain, here’s hoping that game holds up to the excitement of todays. It should with Spain having the tournaments goal scoring leader David Villa and Russia’s exicting Andrei Arshavin. Kudos Euro!