Germany make a virtue of improvisation

The players preach the value of traditional German virtues but Joachim Loew's side have only made it to the semi-finals of Euro 2008 thanks to an uncharacteristic streak of improvisation.

• “We will play against Turkey with commitment and hard running,” centre-back Per Mertesacker said in a typical comment in the build-up to Wednesday’s semi-final in Basel.
• “It’s only by employing those virtues that we get results.”
• Germany have indeed worked hard but it would be wrong to give all the credit to the small army of fitness instructors employed since the days of Juergen Klinsmann.
• First of all, Germany are unlikely to have made it this far had Loew not encouraged Lukas Podolski to reinvent himself as a midfielder.
• Podolski had apparently lost his touch in front of goal after two disappointing seasons at Bayern Munich but instead of discarding him, Loew played him on the left of the midfield.
• It turned out to be an inspired choice, as Podolski struck twice to lead Germany to their opening 2-0 win over Poland.
• Podolski scored his third goal in the second match against Croatia but it was not enough to prevent a 2-1 defeat in what was generally a much flatter performance.
• German media put it down to arrogance and suggested a focus on those famous German virtues, the ones that earned the country three European Championship titles and three World Cups.
• The team duly responded, beating co-hosts Austria 1-0 in a tense match in Vienna, with captain Michael Ballack getting the only goal with a thunderbolt free kick.
• The result secured a place in the quarter-finals as Group B runners-up but the performance still left a lot to be desired heading into the match against Group A winners Portugal.
• INSPIRED CHOICE
• Loew responded with a tactical masterstroke.
• The coach abandoned his beloved 4-4-2 formation, brought in two new holding midfielders in Simon Rolfes and Thomas Hitzlsperger and took the shackles off Ballack.
• The result was spectacular, as Bastian Schweinsteiger scored once and set up two for Miroslav Klose and Ballack in a brilliant 3-2 win.
• “Against Portugal, Ballack was moved into what I call the ‘free spirit role’ playing up front and suddenly — boom,” was how UEFA’s chief technical director Andy Roxburgh described it.
• The big worry in Germany now is that the players will bask in the applause for that performance and make the mistake of underestimating Turkey, the tournament’s comeback kings.
• The truth, however, is that if Ballack plays with the same freedom, if Podolski and Schweinsteiger show the same speed and deftness of touch, if Klose makes those darting runs they will overwhelm a Turkey team ravaged by injuries and suspensions.
• It is just that no one wants to be caught admitting it — hence all the talk about concentration and commitment.