BASEL, Switzerland—Now this is more like it. The Euro 2008 Blog is finally on-site, nibbling on some Swiss chocolate and devouring the European dailies as we take you inside the final week of the world’s biggest soccer event of the year. Over a cold bottle of raki last night at the team hotel, Turkey coach Fatih Terim told me ...

Oh, who am I kidding?

MY COUCH IN BALTIMORE—Okay, let’s imagine that I did share drinks last night with Terim on the eve of today’s semifinal clash between Turkey and Germany (2:45 p.m. ET, ESPN). The Emperor—a sort of Turkish Tommy Lasorda who’s the best Euro 2008 coach not named Guus Hiddink—presumably would have wanted to talk about:

• The rules on yellow-card suspensions. I know the Miracle Turks have amassed a tournament-leading 15 cards (14 yellow, one red), but the fact is that soccer fans are being shortchanged today by the yellow-card suspensions of offensive stars Arda Turan and Tuncay Sanli. It’s high time that the rules were changed to require three accumulated yellow cards for a suspension instead of two—especially now that the slate isn’t wiped clean until after the quarterfinals (instead of after the first round, as it used to be). Referees are just too capricious, inconsistent and, well, officious to let two yellow cards in four games determine a player’s fate. We want to see the best against the best at their best. That’s unfortunate for all of us neutrals because ...

• Terim may have to pull a Donadoni against Germany. Losing Arda, Tuncay and goal-sniper Nihat Kaveci (who’s injured) may well force Turkey into defensive-minded survival mode (aka, Let’s play for penalties!) in the fashion of Italy against Spain. Yes, the Emperor will have goal-scoring hero Semih Sentürk and Kazim Kazim available to play up top, but his attack-minded mids are likely to be a big downgrade in Ugur Boral, Gökdeniz Karadeniz and Sabri Sarioglu (unless he decides to throw rangy right back Hamit Altintop in as a midfielder). Keep in mind, too, that Turkey only has one fit potential substitute field player, which decreases the likelihood of attackers wanting to buzz around for 120 minutes until penalties. Bottom line: the key to opening up this game will be an early German goal.

• Key matchup: Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger vs. Turkey’s Hakan Balta or Hamit Altintop. Much has been made in the run-up to this semifinal of the simpático feelings between Germans and German Turks, the nation’s largest minority, and both Hakan Balta (a Berlin native) and Altintop (a Gelsenkirchen native) have had good tournaments as Turkey’s outside backs. So we can expect some good German trash-talk when one of them is matched up against the rampaging Schweini, for me one of the tournament’s three best players along with Russia’s Andrei Arshavin and Spain’s David Villa. Schweinsteiger covers a ton of ground, is blessed with a 120-minute motor and has a habit of beating defenders to the ball at important moments (as when he burned Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira to score against Portugal).

• Does Turkey have any miracles left? The Emperor can only hope so, because his team is facing its longest odds yet. The Germans have been threatening in the run of play (especially Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski and Michael Ballack), but they’ve been even more dangerous on set-pieces, which the Turks figure to give up frequently if the ball stays in their defensive half of the field. With Emre Asik out (due to another !@#$ yellow-card suspension) we may see a defensive midfielder (Mehmet Aurélio or Mehmet Topal) moving back into central defense, which may make things unsettled for the Turks. Long story short: For Turkey to win it needs to play an amazing defensive game and hope for penalties or a quick-strike counter-attack (perhaps with Altintop making a full-field jailbreak run and finishing the way Tony Sanneh should have against the Germans in 2002). It could happen, I guess, but it’s not likely. Germany 2, Turkey 0.

Who do you like today? Are the Germans the tournament favorite now? And should Joachim Löw invest in a new shirt to replace the white one he wears all the time? Please post your comments below and come back after the game for the latest edition of the Euro 2008 Blog ...