Awards of the Day: June 20th, ‘08

Player of the Day : It has to go to Rüştü Reçber. The 35-year-old Turkish keeper started off shaky but came back strong, making a few key stops and finishing off with a game-winning penalty save.

The “Is This Thing Regulation?” Award : The standard goal is 7.32 meters wide. Luka Modric may want to memorize that number. The future Tottenham midfielder stepped up confidently to take the first Croatian penalty, and took it just wide right. To his credit, he did check the footing before taking the try, to avoid any John Terry slip-ups.

The Right Said Fred Award : Fatih Terim is certainly not, by most accounts, too sexy for his shirt. But if he keeps this up, we could see every coach in Europe start unbuttoning the top two buttons. Best not to think on this ever again.

Emotional Investment Award : Darijo Srna. It’s a stereotypical image in sports – the defeated laying on the field, crying, after a close match goes the other way. People who have never kicked a ball in anything like an important game can laugh at him and call him a crybaby, but to me, it’s the sign of a man that left everything on the pitch. And that’s what you want on your side.

The Help Wanted Award : The Turks, as good as they have been, have a serious issue with personnel going into their semifinal with Germany. A knockout against the Germans would be daunting enough, but between injuries and suspensions, Turkey might have a real problem fielding eleven men, any eleven, on Wednesday.

The Robin van Persie Award for Super-Subs : This one’s very close, between Croatia’s Ivan Klasnić and Turkey’s Semih Şentürk. Both came on as substitutes late in the game, and both scored the game’s only goals. The slight edge goes to Klasnić for doing the deed with another guy’s kidney inside of him, and for surviving the rest of the Croatian team landing on top of him and his newly sewn-up abdomen during the celebration. Talk about friendly fire.

And now, the ladies :