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Euro Wrap, June 20: Croatia 1(1) – 1(3) Turkey

   

To say, “Turkey wins it on penalties” doesn’t even come close. Even if you add “after coming from behind. Again,” it still doesn’t quite capture this game.

What we had today was 118 minutes of nil-nil, with a few blasts of excitement here and there to perk things up, followed by 2 minutes of red-hot sizzle. And then penalties.

Match recap, with highlight videos, after the jump.

QUARTER-FINAL 2 June 20th, 2045 CET, Vienna (Austria)
Croatia

1 (1)
VS Turkey

1 (3)
Klasnic 119′   Senturk 120′

After the first 118 minutes, I was ready to write this game off as boring. Occasional bursts of nice play by both teams, some good saves by both keepers (and a couple of blunders by the out-of-practice substitute Turkish goalkeeper Rustu Recber, who took awhile to warm up), and nobody able to capitalize enought to put the ball into the net. If I hadn’t been liveblogging the game, I might have turned it off.

That would have been a mistake.

In the 119th minute, Ivan Klasnic did it again. He scored against Poland on Monday, and today he came off the bench and scored again against Turkey. It looked like this:

Scoreless for 118 minutes, and then, finally a goal. Surely it’s over for the Turks, right?

Not so fast. This was followed immediately with an amazing comeback goal by Turkey, blasted in by sub Semih Senturk, literally seconds before the whistle blew. (And several seconds after Slaven Bilic thought the whistle should have blown.)

And so it went to penalties. Sadly for Slaven Bilic’s men, they never recovered from the shock of the second goal, or from the frustration at having it take place after Bilic felt the game should have been over, and it showed in their penalties.

First the normally amazing Luca Modric sent it just wide for Croatia. Then Arda Turan buried it for Turkey. Dario Srna put one in for Croatia, making it 1-1, but that was the last time it things would look good for Bilic’s men. Semih Senturk did it again, making it 2-1. Then Ivan Rakitic sent it wide for Croatia (still 2-1), and Hamit Altintop sent it home for Turkey (3-1.) The last chance fell to Mladen Petric, but Rustu was the hero and came up with the save. And that was it. It was all over. Turkey wins it 3-1 on penaltiies and goes on to face Germany in the semis.

And here’s how the penalty shootout went down.

Now the big question for Turkey is whether or not they’ll even be able to field a team. They were down to fifteen players today, and only Mehmet Aurelio is guaranteed to be back. And today they lost Turan, Tuncay and Asik to second yellows, and superstriker Nihat to possible injury. Do the math. Things are looking a bit scary.

But I, for one, wouldn’t bet against the Turks until after the final whistle has blown.

Bracket Update
Omar continues to lead in the Euro 2008 Bracket Predictor Contest, but his lead is only one point over group stage champion Elena and four points over five others, including Otgonbaatar from Mongolia, one of the few brave souls who picked Turkey to go to the semifinals. Check out your standings, and stay tuned.


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Comments
By Marco Pantanella | June 20th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Top

As you said, this game was 118 minutes of boredom followed by 2 minutes of insanity. But Turkey’s luck just has to be running out at some point…

By vincenzo7 | June 21st, 2008 at 12:28 am
Top

Turkey are hugely overated the germans will sort them out they are good at dealing with unsavoury characters flottsam and jetsam from anatolia turks be warned your supporters staY WELL AWay from german boys

Posted from Australia Australia

By Baris Tarim | June 21st, 2008 at 1:54 am
Top

You need more than a few skillful players to win tournaments. Not that Turkey doesn’t have them: Semih had a deadly-finish at a moment of immense pressure – that’s also skill. Just as Nihat five days ago. But fundamentally, you need to be ice-cold sometimes and have the guts. Very impressive run for Turkey…

Posted from France France

By joejoejoe | June 21st, 2008 at 2:39 am
Top

If you are Luka Modric you have to put your shot on goal when taking the first penalty. If the keeper saves it, so what, it puts pressure on your keeper to match but a victory is still possible. Missing the net was just crushing after conceding that late goal. Cutting it so fine that you miss the goal is a very low quality decision. Pick a side 3/4 of the way over and 3/4 of the way up and rifle a shot. If the keeper stops it, he stops it. I swear some players have more ego than brains and would rather beat themselves by missing just wide then have the keeper save it with a more conservative shot.

But all credit to Turkey who was magnificent in the penalities.

Posted from United States United States

By erina | June 21st, 2008 at 4:30 am
Top

to begin with;rustu was the right man for this match, old but experienced..

also, I hope turks WON’T make it a fascism celebration. in my opinion it’s all about our teams unique style and passionate spirits about football.

Posted from Turkey Turkey

By abhijeet | June 21st, 2008 at 4:48 am
Top

i agree that turkey were a bit lucky but kudos to them for never giving up. this is just what you would want from your side.

i feel sorry for Croatia though, but when Senturk had equalized i feared that now the game was turkey’s to lose as it was such a blow to concede a goal in the injury time of added time. this clearly had an effect on their penalties.

but what a game though! as Marco said it really was 2 minutes of insanity…

By luna_oscura | June 21st, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Top

if we woin again with a come back or just win with luck there wont be any man to play on finals :D

By luna_oscura | June 21st, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Top

won*
I meant :D

By luna_oscura | June 21st, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Top

argh whats wrong with me today. I meant ‘win’
hahaha damn.. :D

By Alexander,USA | June 21st, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Top

Several hundred disappointed Croatian fans attacked celebrating Turks in a nearby street, throwing bottles at them, while stones were also thrown at windows bearing Turkish flags.

After police intervened, closing the street, the Croatian supporters turned against the officers, pelting them with bottles and other items.

An improvised parade on a major Vienna boulevard proceeded peacefully however, if not quietly
and everyone blamed the Turks ,How sad
USA for Turkey,Go Turkish one more or two more time

By Katarina (Croatia) | June 23rd, 2008 at 4:06 am
Top

Croatian supporters didn’t attack anybody without a good reason thats for sure.

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