Just had to post this

Euro 2008 - Turkey leave with heads held high
Eurosport - Thu, 26 Jun 10:31:00 2008

Turkey won many fans at Euro 2008 and showed they can become a major force in world football thanks to their determination, skill and grace.

Coach Fatih Terim, who said he would probably quit following Wednesday's agonising 3-2 defeat by Germany in the semi-final, deserves huge credit for the way he has handled himself.

Injuries and suspension tore the heart out of his team with goalkeeper Volkan Demirel banned for Wednesday and striker Nihat Kahveci ruled out alongside midfielder Emre Belozoglu.

Three more suspensions and a host of other injuries made Terim's starting line-up almost pick itself yet the Turks still dominated the Germans for half the game and can count themselves unlucky to lose to a last-minute winner by Philipp Lahm.

There were no sour grapes from Terim, though. "We are leaving as one of the most colourful teams here. We were almost there but this is football. We respect our opponents. I am very, very proud of my team," he said.

Creative midfielder Hamit Altintop plays for Bayern Munich and was well known to the Germans but they still struggled to stop him controlling the game with his neat passing.

Winger Kazim Kazim, who hit the bar twice, enhanced his reputation with a mature performance while Ugur Boral, who scored their first on Wednesday, was a real handful on the left.

The fact they scored the opening goal in a match at the tournament for the first time on Wednesday shows how hard they worked to reach their maiden European Championship semi-final.

Throughout the tournament they have fought until the very end for their fanatical fans and their reward will be a heroes' welcome when they return, just like when they reached the last four at the 2002 World Cup. Their success really is no fluke.

Few teams across all previous championships have been able to conjure up late goals like the Turks did here.

A last-gasp Arda Turan strike gave them a 2-1 win over Switzerland in their second group game having been 1-0 down at halftime and facing elimination.

They gave themselves an even bigger mountain to climb in the last group game with the Czechs when they conceded twice only to storm back with three goals in the last 15 minutes.

A strike in the 122nd minute from lively forward Semih Senturk brought them level against Croatia in the quarter-final before they triumphed on penalties.

Having taken the lead against Germany in the first half, they found themselves losing 2-1 after keeper Rustu Recber's error let Miroslav Klose head into an empty net on 79 minutes.

Still Turkey battled back with Semih again the scorer four minutes from time before Lahm broke their hearts, but not their will and incredible humility.

"Unfortunately we have a problem of conceding easy goals. If we'd gone on to extra time the score could have been different perhaps. But at this point in time we must congratulate the winner," Terim added.

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Congratulations to Spain for winning the Euro Cup! (Sorry Enrico, but with the way Germany played last night, any team would have beaten them... I'm sure Turkey would have, hehe.)