June 26 – Cenk Tosun scored a stoppage-time winner as Turkey beat the Czech Republic 2-1 in a fiery final group game to secure a last-16 tie against Austria.
It was a hard fought match but ultimately Czechia’s valiant 10-men ran out of steam to let the Turks in a chaotic finale.
The Czechs went into the final group game knowing that only a win would keep them alive.
Turkey on the other hand just needed a draw and in front of their massed fans at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg they were roared on from the start, helped in no small measure by card happy Hungarian referee Istvan Kovacs.
Over the match Kovacs issued a tournament high 18 yellow cards and two reds, but the most crucial were the two yellows issued in the first half to Antonin Barak.
Initially booked for pulling Ferdi Kadioglu back by the shirt, Barak then overran the ball in midfield, and in his lunge to recover it stamped on the foot of Kenan Yildiz. Kovacs produced the second yellow and Barak was off.
Whether they were yellow card offences was debatable. In the cauldron of passion and emotion that the Volksparkstadion they served to fuel tempers further.
The Czechs response to being a man down was fierce and on the stroke of half time they could have gone in a goal up. Lucas Provod broke from midfield and laid the ball into the path of David Jurasek who hit his shot cleanly but into the body of an advancing Mert Gunok. Jurasek knew it was a huge opportunity missed.
Five minutes into the second half Turkey had the lead. Baris Alper Yilmaz broke down the right and cut the ball back into the box. In the goalmouth scramble Ismail Yuksek pushed the ball into the path of skipper Hakan Calhanoglu who drove the ball past Czech keeper Jindrich Stanek – 1-0 and you could taste the Turkish delight.
The Turks should have doubled their lead on the hour but Real Madrid’s Arda Guler couldn’t quite reach a ball across the goal in time for a simple tap in.
The Czechs may have been down but they were far from out and it was inevitably their talisman and captain Tomas Soucek who drew them level.
Gunok spilled a high ball under a challenge from Tomas Chory whose shot was cleared off the line only to fall for Soucek who hammered the ball into the net.
The Turks were already at boiling point but with the equaliser they went apoplectic. The ref continued to play his cards.
With the match at fever pitch the Turks threw everything they had at the Czech defence.
Three minutes into added time Tosun picked up the ball inside the Czech half, cut inside his marker and fired his shot past Stanek for 2-1.
Chaos ensued. The stadium went wild, again, the Turkish bench exploded in every direction, and the Czechs let their fury get the better of them. Amidst the inferno that not even Dante could have pictured, Kovacs worked his cards again.
Turkey now take their travelling army to meet Austria in the last 16 in Munich next Tuesday to do it all again.
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