Euro 2008 QF2 LiveBlog: Croatia vs Turkey

QUARTER-FINAL 2	June 20th, 2045 CET, Vienna (Austria)
Croatia 1 (1) VS Turkey 1 (3) Klasnic 119′   Senturk 120′

And now the huge question. Who the heck is going to play in the semis for Turkey? Everybody’s either suspended or injured.

Petric steps up. He has to make this. And Rustu saves it!! And Turkey wins it! What an amazing game for Turkey! Oh, poor Croatia!

Altintop comes up and sends it in perfect. 3-1! this is looking close to over.

Rakitic up next. AARGH!! Also misses completely, going wide left! Still 2-1!

Semih Senturk looking for a good one. He sends it left and Pletikosa goes the other way 2-1.

Dario Srna sends it straight, Rustu goes right and it’s in! 1-1!

Arda Turan for Turkey. He sends it to Pletikosa’s left and in! 1 for Turkey!

Croatia first. Modric stepping up to the spot. He has to make this. And…. He misses! Oh my gosh! It goes millimeters wide and into the boards!

Rustu and Pletikosa exchange pleasantries. I always feel for goalkeepers in shootouts.

And we are going to penalties, boys and girls. I’m worn out.

121′ GOAL!!! TURKEY!! Oh. My. Lord! The comeback kids have done it again! Rustu sends the ball up the field, and Senturk sends it home from distance, right past Pletikosa. And Bilic is NOT happy that there was stoppage time added on. (And Chris is lighting up my Skype connection. He’s not happy about it either.)

120′ Croatia makes another run, but offside.

119′ GOAL!!!! Klasnic for Croatia! What a heartbreak for Turkey!! Up the right, and Rustu comes off his line but can’t beat Modric, who sends it across to Klasnic. Rustu can’t get back in time and Klasnic sends it in.

118′ R. Kovac concedes a corner. Nice delivery, but Zan heads it over.

117′ Nihat is limping, and Terim makes his last substitution. Gokdeniz is on, Nihat off. The replays don’t show what caused the injury.

116′ Free kick for Turkey along the right touchline when Pranjic and (?) tussle for the ball. Nihat takes it but his delivery is awful and Croatia gets it back.

114′ Zan loses the ball in a bad spot, down on the Turkish end, but he’s lucky and it goes out for a goal kick.

113′ Modric stops some Turkish hearts by dodging through defenders. Rustu comes off his line and snatches it away from his feet.

111′ And as I say that, Turkey puts together some nice play. But nothing comes of it.

109′ If we get a score here, I think the players will be as surprised as I will. The whistle seems to blow every few seconds, and they’re taking forever to get play going again.

108′ Eek! The ball is bouncing around in the air in the Turkey box, and in the end Asik heads it back to Rustu with a Croatian player right there. Dangerous, but it works.

106′ We’re underway. Everything’s looking a bit disjointed. Long ball from Pletikosa to Rustu. It takes a dangerous bounce or two before he’s able to grab it. Modric tries to crack open the Turkish defense, but can’t do it. Croatia is looking peppier. And now Asik picks up a second yellow! Are they even going to be able to field a team if they go through?

– Fatih Terim is looking animated as he talks to his players.

And that’s the end of the first fifteen minutes. Turkey looks good but tired, Croatia looks flat. Have they been saving themselves? Or are they hoping for penalties?

104′ Srna is offside for Croatia. He’s holding his hamstring, which would not be good. Nihat sends a great cross in for Senturk, but Siminic is able to head it awa.

102′ More Turkish chances! Tuncay gets the ball right in the center, outside of the box, but this one is a couple of feet wide as well. Unlucky!

100′ Senturk sends in a shot from just outside the box. Just barely high — too bad, because Pletikosa was out of position. Interestingly, Turkey has looked more interested in attacking in extra time that in the first ninety.

98′ Tommy Smyth is predicting penalties. Turkey gets an excellent opportunity. Senturk sends it into the box, and Croatia just can’t seem to clear it. It keeps bouncing and deflecting into Turkish players. In the end, though, Croatia survives.

97′ Olic is coming off, Klasnic on for Croatia. Olic’s had a solid game, but unfortunately doesn’t have anything on the scoreline to show for it.

96′ Possession right now is 50-50. And Klasnic, the goal scorer from the Poland game, is getting ready to come on.

93′ Turkey has some lovely team play in the Croatia final third. After several minutes Tuncay gets a great chance from an impossible angle that Pletikosa has to bat out for a corner. Unfortunately for Turkey the corner goes nowhere.

92′ Pranjic gets a cross into the box. Croatia appeals for handball, but the ref isn’t buying.

91′ And I become the first blogger to get extra time in this tournament. Lucky me!
EXTRA TIME

90+3′ Olic has a great chance, but volleys it over the top! And the whistle blows and we’re heading into extra time.

92′ Turan sends it into the box, but Croatia heads it away. And it’s looking like extra time barring a miracle.

91′ three minutes of stoppage time. Free kick for Croatia 33 m from goal. It’s on target and Rustu bobbles it a bit as it bounces off his chest, but in the end is able to fall on it.

90′ Modric sends the ball into the middle. Olic slides in and tries to poke it past Rustu, but Rustu is up to it,.

87′ Zan manages to stop the progress of Srna, charging up the right. Too bad, because he had Rakitic open. And on the counter, Turkey charges up the right, but Croatia sends it out for a corner. On the counter, Boral gets yellow for taking down Srna, but it’s after the fact because the ref played advantage. Out for a Croatia corner, which Turkey takes back.

85′ Kovac pulls back Nihat a teeny bit and the ref calls the foul, maybe twenty yards outside the box. Altintop sends it into the wall. Possession bounces around the midfield, back and forth before Croatia sends it out for a throw.

82′ Srna makes a lovely run right up the middle, and Zan takes him down right outside the box. Free kick for Croatia in a dangerous spot. It’s a gorgeous free kick, heading right into the upper right corner, but Rustu gets a hand on it to tip it wide. Great save for Rustu.

80′ Altintop almost gets the ball from Siminic after a backpass, but in the end Siminic is able to twist away from him.

79′ Corner for Croatia. Rakitic sends it into the box and Rustu punches it away and is then knocked down by Kovac.

78′ Turan takes a long shot that looks like an easy save for Pletikosa, but he bobbles it a bit and Semih almost gets to it before Pletikosa grabs it up.

77′ I just realized that Nihat has been invisible this game.

75′ Corner for Croatia. Srna sends it low and a little short, and Turkey sends it out for another corner. He does the same thing again, and Turkey gets to it easily. Semih Senturk on, Mehmet Topal off for Turkey.

74′ Sabri does a fun little bit of juggling in the corner to get the ball airborne so he can volley it up the field. Entertaining if dangerous.

72′ Rakitic sends in a perfect cross to Olic. He gets his head to it, hard, but it goes just wide.

70′ Another missed sitter for Croatia. Some nice one-touch passing as they bring it up the field, but then Rakitic skies the shot.

69′ Srna controls a ball with his arm right in front of the linesman. Oops.

67′ Corluka on the right has Olic open, but decides to take the shot himself. He sends it over the goal and into the stands.

66′ Did somebody seed the field with molasses? We get the occasional burst of speed, but mostly this game is really slow.

65′ Kranjcar is off, Petric is on for Croatia. Kranjcar has had a bit of an off day today.

63′ The first offside of the game, amazingly. It looks like Olic has put one in the net, but he’s at least a yard off and it’s called back.

62′ Turkey wins a corner, which goes straight to Pletikosa. Have I mentioned him yet today? Rustu has done some work, but Pletikosa not so much.

60′ Modric lights up the field every time he touches the ball. Too bad Croatia haven’t been able to do much with what he does today. Kazim comes off, Boral on for Turkey.

58′ Siminic pushes off Kazim and goes miles into the air for a header, then goes down hard and is slow getting up.

57′ Kranjcar slips between defenders and gets off a shot, but Rustu is able to fall on it without too much problem.

56′ Rakitic gets a chance again in Turkey’s final third, but Sabri deals with it and Turkey takes it back.

52′ Rakitic almost gets another chance, but Sabri barely gets to it first and sends it out for the corner. Croatia has a great chance on the corner as Rustu loses track of the ball, but in the end it goes out for a goal kick. The pace of this game has picked up considerably. Bilic must have given his boys a talking to at the half.

51′ Aarg! Another great chance for Croatia! A one-on-one, Olic with Rustu in front of goal. Rustu comes off his line but doesn’t deal with it, and Olic is able to flick it back with his head into play. It almost bounces into the goal in slow motion, but the Turkish defenders get there in time and Turkey clears it.

50′ Possession swappping at the middle of the field.

48′ Arda Turan takes out Siminic at the ankles with the studs. Yellow to Arda, and another suspension should they make the semis.

47′ Croatia sends off a kind of shot toward the Turkish goal. I don’t think Rustu even blinked as it went far wide.

46′ And we’re off in the second half.

This game’s a little slow, so here’s something for the guys:

– Interesting trivia: The only time in the group stage that Turkey wasn’t trailing at the half was against Portugal (0-0 HT) and that was the one time they lost.

Our halftime puzzle. Another player from one of these teams.

45+2 And that’s the half. There have been a few minutes of excitement, but mostly it’s kind of settled into…um…boring. I expected more from Croatia, but they’ve seemed content to defend with the occasional counterattack.

46′ Two minutes of stoppage time. Turkey is trying hard to keep things level going into the half, with Rustu sending the ball hard down the field three times in short succession.

45′ Kovac kicks Tuncay in the knee, hard, while going for the ball. Tuncay is limping off the field. This would really hurt for Turkey.

43′ Croatia looks threatening in the box, but Tuncay manages to get to the ball and deflect it off a Croatian player for a goal kick.

41′ Kranjcar sends a long ball across the field, but it’s too hard and goes out for a goal kick.

38′ Mehmet Topal gets off a laser shot for Turkey from about thirty yards out. It looks for a bit like it’s going in, but curves wide at the last second.

37′ Two Croatian players take down Tuncay in a clumsy way in the box, but it’s not bad enough for a penalty.

34′ I’m guessing that Turkey has a higher percentage of possession, but Croatia looks more threatening when they’re on the ball. Altintop comes down the center, but then doesn’t have anybody to send it to and Croatia takes it back.

33′ Tuncay comes up the left, looking threatening. Kovac gives him a shove to get him off the ball. Tuncay goes flying, but there’s no call.

32′ N. Kovac takes down Turan right in front of the ref. Not the best place to do it. The foul is called.

31′ Tommy Smyth is waxing rhapsodic at the thought of Fatih Terim in a band like Bilic’s. Tommy Smyth boggles my mind.

30′ Turkey gets some possession again and sends the ball up the left, but Corluka gets it back.

27′ Tuncay gets a yellow for taking out Kovac.

26′ Srna comes up the right this time and tries to get off a shot, but it’s blocked by Balta.

25′ Again up the left and crossed into the Turkey box. Rustu has to punch it away.

24′ Pranjic is just eating Turkey’s right side alive. He comes up again and sends the ball into the box, and Turkey is lucky to get it away.

22′ Kranjcar gives Asik a boot to the mouth. Owie. Asik is counting his teeth.

21′ Good run up the left. Pranjic crosses it but sends it too far and nobody’s there.

20′ Croatia is awake now. Watch out.

19′ AARGH. Missed sitter for Croatia. Modric comes up to the right of the field and sends the ball to the center. Olic blasts it into the crossbar. Turkey gets to the rebound first, but they send it over the bar. Ouch.

18′ Croatia sends a long ball up the middle, but Turkey gets it away.

17′ Turan has a handball in the Croatian box.

13′ Kovac gives up a free kick in the center, just outside the box. It looked like a good tackle, but replay shows that he got Nihat as well as the ball. Altintop sends it hard, straight into the wall. You could hear the echo as the ball hit Kovac in the side, and Kovac is down. He’s going to have a bruise so deep he’ll be able to see those new dimples from Europass ball.

11′ Turkey is certainly not humiliating themselves. These players’ style of play shows that they’re very familiar with each other.

10′ Croatia is currently looking the more skilled side, but Turkey is playing with the most energy and dominating possession. For the moment.

9′ Turkey controls it again in the Croatian final third, to the point that Olic has to come back and defend.

8′ And Turkey gets a long stretch of possession. Tuncay takes a half-hearted shot that rolls slowly to Pletikosa.

6′ Olic takes control of the ball in his own end and sends it to Srna in front of goal. Dangerous, but Srna can’t quite get to it and it’s cleared for a corner, which Turkey handles easily.

5′ Altintop sends off a rocket of a shot from distance that goes wide.

3′ Modric steals the ball and midfield and takes it up the middle. He takes a shot but is surrounded by players and it deflect out off one of his own players.

2′ Both teams working on finding a rhythm here. Ball is changing possession back and forth, and we’ve had about four throw-ins so far.

1′ And we’re off. And we have our first cliche! Croatia were dark horses who played like thoroughbreds.

-1′ Was that eight players from Turkey on yellow cards? Maybe even nine?

– And we have our obligatory “hot female fan in the crowd” shot.

– And now Croatia’s national anthem. In a major key. (Because I know you were wondering.) None of the Croatians are laughing, so I’m guessing they got the words right. Unlike in the England game.

-4′ Znc now the national anthems. First, Turkey’s. I wonder what it says about countries when they have their national anthems in major vs. minor keys. Turkey’s is in a minor. Just fyi.

-5′ And we’re in the tunnel. And we’re coming out of the tunnel. And Luka Modric isn’t much tlaler than the little kid he’s holding hands with.

-14′ And Modric spit and wipes his nose with his fingers. Smile, Luka! You’re on international TV!

-12′ Turkey has only 15 healthy players. Ouch. Tuncay will be playing in center midfield today, which should make things fun. He always provides a lot of energy.

Okay, here’s another puzzle. This one is tougher.

-25′ And here are our starting lineups:
Croatia: Pletikosa, Simunic, R Kovac, Corluka, Rakitic, N Kovac, Srna, Modric, Olic, Kranjcar, Pranjic.
Turkey: Rustu, Balta, Gokhan Zan, Topal, Nihat, Turan, Asik, Tuncay, Kazim, Sabri, Hamit.

Hi and welcome to our liveblog for the Croatia-Turkey game. To kill the time before kickoff, I have a puzzle for you. It’s one of the players who will in all likelihood be playing today: