Turkey Vs Croatia: Another nail biting win for the Turkish Side
June 22, 2008
It was the second quarter final of EURO 2008, where two dark horses of the tournament, Turkey & Croatia, went head-to-head. Both these teams were through to the second round on the back of some wonderful performances with the Croatians winning all their matches including a win over the first Semifinalist Germany and Turkish side, who defeated a resurgent Czech side in nail biting finish to storm into the knockout stage.
The two sides had a grueling start to the game with Slaven Bilic Croatian side putting up a solid attack and pitting the Turkish Side on the back foot. For most part of the game, there were attacks from both the sides and it seemed that any one of them could score at any stage. However, the score line finished at fulltime 0-0 with the match going into the overtime and the chances of a penalty was looming over it.
Extra time was a continuation of the match with both sides having equal attempts at the net and none converting them. It was only in the 119 minute that the deadlock was broken by Croatia, when Ivan Klasnic headed home a goal past Turkish keeper Rustu Recber what looked to be the end of the game.
However, there was another twist in the tale when a long pass by keeper Rustu allowed Semih to shot an equalizer past Pletikosa and made the match to go into penalties in the injury time.
In the penalty kicks, three of the four penalties where missed by Croatia with Modric, Rakitic & Petric failing to convert and Turkish side hit all three to allow the latter with a win on a penalty score line 3-1.
Now it will be a battle between the fancied Germans against the dark horse Turkish side with everyone hoping for yet another thriller of a game.
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