Lahm to the slaughter

Worst player on the pitch but he scored the winner

Lucky, lucky Germany. Surely a team has never played so badly and got to the finals of a major tournament.

But Germany are through - at the expense of Turkey - after a thrilling, inept and entertaining 3-2 semi-final win.

Turkey played precise passing football; exciting on the break, using both wings and by-passing the static German midfield and defence.

The Turks hit the bar, post, goalkeeper Jans Lehmans' chest, legs and arms but only managed to hold on to their 1-0 lead for five minutes before the German's first meaningful attack gave them a goal.

And then in the second half, the Germans undeservedly took the lead with Miroslav Klose scoring in the 79th minute before Turkey pegged them back again with a near post neat finish from Semih Senturk.

But it was left-back Phillip Lahm - the worst player on the pitch – who stole forward in the last minute to score the winner and send them into the final.

Michael Ballack ballled out his teammates one by one but failed to lift the team to a level of performance fitting of a semi-final. And yet his team won.

This topsy-turvy Euro 2008 is one of the most enjoyable tournaments and perhaps Germany in the final was predictable. But the route and (lack of) style they have shown to get there has been surprising.

If Turkey had one decent striker, they’d have been through.

And now it’s over to Spain and Russia and any football purist would surely prefer them to lift the trophy rather than the well-below average Germans.

But don’t bet on it.

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