Low confident of fielding best Germany

Published on Friday 27 June 2008 11:17

GERMANY coach Joachim Low has arguably achieved more than predecessor Jurgen Klinsmann by reaching the European Championship final with the same core of players that finished third at the 2006 World Cup.

Klinsmann's team played an all-attacking style two years ago, while Low had gone back to three old German qualities – stamina, commitment, efficiency. The Germans had only three shots on target during Wednesday's semi-final against Turkey, and all three went into the net in a 3-2 win.

Turkey's three late comebacks at Euro 2008 had a German quality about them, but the three-time European champions showed how it's done when the stakes are high.

"We are now looking forward to the final. Now, the pressure is over and we can have fun," Low said.

Germany will be bidding for a record fourth title against Spain in Sunday's final.

There was little flair in Germany's performance against Turkey but the will to fight until the end meant the team escaped with a 90th-minute winning goal from Philipp Lahm, a defender who also set up its second goal by Miroslav Klose but also made glaring mistakes on both Turkish goals.

Germany displayed a mystifying inconsistency at the tournament. They began with a strong 2-0 win over Poland, but then fell into disarray in a 2-1 loss to Croatia before securing progress to the quarter-finals by labouring to a 1-0 win over Austria.

But they were effervescent in beating Portugal 3-2 in the quarter-final, only to be follow up with the plodding effort against Turkey, who had 17 shots to Germany's seven overall and outplayed their opponents over long stretches of the game despite being depleted by injuries and suspensions.

"There has been absolutely no consistency in teams in this tournament," Low said at the team's training base in southern Switzerland. "We were not permanently at high level, we know it. But the most important thing is to win such games at a tournament like this. We are in the final and that's what counts. Our morale is high."