Germany

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Ballack bullish over chances

25 Jun 2008 - 08:38:47

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Germany captain Michael Ballack has warned Turkey that his team-mates are champing at the bit to return to action ahead of their semi-final meeting.

The two sides will lock horns in Basel on Wednesday evening with a place in Sunday's Euro 2008 final up for grabs.

But after six days on the sidelines since their quarter-final success over Portugal, Ballack believes Germany are desperate to return to action.

"The mood in the camp since the victory over Portugal has been even better," he revealed.

"We were able to recover for a couple days but are now getting impatient because the break is a little too long.

"We want to get back to action - we're ready for the game against Turkey."

Meanwhile, the Chelsea midfielder believes the desire in the camp to exceed their feat of reaching the last four of the 2006 World Cup is strong.

He added: "We got eliminated and were so close to the final - we want to improve on that.

"We learned back then that you have to play games until the referee blows the final whistle and you always have to play fully concentrated.

"The Turkey team have proved in this tournament how important that is."