Germany show strength of mind

Germany coach Joachim Loew has a lot of work to do heading into Sunday’s Euro 2008 final but he can be confident that if all else fails the team’s physical and mental strength can still get them out of trouble.

Germany did just about everything wrong in the semi-final against Turkey but despite making terrible mistakes in defence and relying on the hit-and-hope approach to building attacks they came through a bruising match to win 3-2. After falling behind midway through the first half they showed a couple of moments of quality to go ahead through Bastian Schweinsteiger and Miroslav Klose.

Lahm late strike turned the tables on the Turks who had managed their own great escape here times. “We have got a winner’s mentality and want to win the title,” said Loew. “We didn’t do what usually makes us strong, which is passing forward. We started kicking high balls forward instead and the Turks were able to stop that.

“It was an open match, going back and forth without any clear structure, but the team showed great morale to come back.” Germany will face a different test against the high on confidence Spanish team, who likes to keep the ball moving around.