That's the way many Turks feel, a heady, near-mystical sense that Turkey's underdog run to the European Championship semifinals involves more than goal-scoring.

To these fans, it's about pride and patriotism; ethnic identity and insecurity; centuries of conflict and coexistence; and the prickly, modern-day relationship between Turks and the West.

Turkey's opponent today in Basel, Switzerland, is Germany, home to nearly three million Turks, some of whom moved there as gastarbeiter, or guest workers, for low-paying jobs in the 1960s.

"Great! The best thing that could happen to us," waiter Celalettin Dagan, who moved to Germany when he was 7, said of the semifinal matchup between his two favorite teams. "If Germany advances, then we will be behind them."

Turkey has known soccer success, finishing third in the World Cup held in South Korea and Japan in 2002.

There, its opponents included Brazil, Senegal and Asian nations, but victory in Europe, the cradle of global soccer, is "more important," said Gursoy Delioglu, a chemistry teacher in Istanbul.

The final will take place Sunday in Vienna.