Turkey's Ozan Tufan (right) celebrates scoring his team's second
goal against Czech Republic during their Euro 2016 Group D match at
Stade Bollaert-Delelis in Lens on Tuesday.
Turkey snatched a Euro 2016
lifeline with a 2-0 victory over Czech Republic on Tuesday that secured
third place in Group D and left them waiting to see if they had done
enough to reach the last 16.
After defeats to Croatia and Spain in their first two games, goals by
Burak Yilmaz and Ozan Tufan gave the rejuvenated Turks hope, although
they need results to go their way when the group stage concludes on
Wednesday.
Should they go through, Turkey will face either Wales in Paris or
hosts France in Lyon. The Czechs, however, will definitely go home,
having finished bottom of the group with one point from three matches.
The Turks opened the scoring in the 10th minute when Arda Turan sent
Emre Mor scampering away down the right before he crossed for Burak
Yilmaz, who ghosted in to send a simple first-time shot from close range
flying past Petr Cech.
Turkey's Emre Mor tackles Czech Republic's Roman Hubnik.
The Czechs almost levelled soon
afterwards when Borek Dockal headed against the foot of the post and
Tomas Necid could not reach the rebound, before the latter awkwardly
volleyed another good chance over 10 minutes later.
Although Turkey looked a lot more resilient than they had in their
opening two games, they were on the back foot for much of the first half
and the Czechs had plenty of chances to score.
Full back Pavel Kaderabek missed two great opportunities, firing a
shot that Turkey keeper Volkan Babacan saved with his foot before the
defender blazed wide following a slick attack down the right.
Babacan also pushed a stinging shot from Jaroslav Plasil wide as the Czechs started to find some space on the flanks.
Czech Republic's Petr Cech (2nd from right) shows his despair at the final whistle after the match against Turkey
Turkey came out all guns
blazing in the second half and Emre Mor could have put them two up as he
picked up a long ball and drifted in from the right before clipping a
shot just over.
Yet seconds later Babacan had to make another smart save at the other end from Vladimir Darida.
Moments after Turkey were raging at an offside call that went against
them, Ozan Tufan sent thousands of Turkish fans into ecstasy as Mehmet
Topal teed him up to smash an unstoppable shot into the top corner from a
tight angle.
The goal was greeted by a half-dozen flares lighting up the Turkish
end of the ground, with some being thrown onto the pitch during the
ear-splitting celebrations.
Their spirits lifted by the goal, the Turks battled for every ball in
a superb defensive effort, never letting the Czechs settle as they
weathered the storm to hold on for a precious victory.
No comments:
Post a Comment