Croatia vs Turkey
in Vienna.
Friday, 20th June at 20.45
The winner of the Croatia vs Turkey match will meet
Germany in the semi-final; in Basle.
With Volkan Demirel suspended, Rüstü Reçber makes a comeback.
In the 18th minute, Luka Modric bursting down the right crossed low to
Ivica Olic, who slammed the ball high onto the crossbar. Niko Kranjcar then failed to head
in the rebound. Chances don't come better than that.
As the game enters the half-hour mark, Croatia are dominating the game
but just can't score.
Turkey tried a little possession football to improve their confidence
on the ball, then Tuncay made a nice flick over Josip Simunic but was obstructed as he
entered the Croatian area, trying to get a head onto the ball. The penalty appeal was
ignored.
Other than that, the first-half only gave us the one clear chance.
Half-time - 0:0
Turkey started the second-half with more problems in defence but
escaped unharmed.
Croatia continued to search for a goal; but when another golden
opportunity opened up, in the 70th minute, Ivan Rakitic leant back and hooked the ball
high over the bar.
With less than fifteen minutes to go, Turkey looked like they might
almost be ready to go on the offensive.
The experience of Rüstü showed when he read Darijo Srna's free-kick
and pulled out the save of the match. Wait a minute, that was the only real save of the
match. Rüstü followed that performance with another couple of saves in the last five
minutes, to keep Turkey in the match for extra-time.
Full Time - 0:0
Turkey had the better of the first period of extra-time, playing some
of their best football so far in this game. Croatia, on the other hand, seemed a little
tired. The Turkish fans sensed this and raised their volume in the Ernst-Happel-Stadion.
In the second period of extra-time, the Croatian fans tried to inspire
their team to go the extra mile.
The late winner specialists, Turkey looked like they had the stuffing
knocked out of them after Rüstü ran out along the goal-line and was caught in no-man's
land as Luka Modric floated a cross in for Ivan Klasnic to head home.
Then Turkey proved that they were the mother of all late finishers by
equalising with the last kick of the game.
So after two hours of nothing we get a double whammy and
penalties.
Final Score:
Croatia 1 - Turkey 1
Goalscorers:
1:0 Ivan Klasnic (119)
1:1 Semih Sentürk (122)
Penalties: (1:3)
Turkey won the penalty shoot-out after Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic missed the target and
Rüstü Reçber saved Mladen Petric's spot kick. Only Darijo Srna stayed calm for Croatia.
After picking up their second yellow cards, Tuncay Sanli, Arda
Turan and Emre Asik are all suspended for the semi-final.
Teams
Croatia:
1 Stipe Pletikosa; 22 Danijel Pranjic, 3 Josip Simunic, 4 Robert Kovac, 5 Vedran Corluka;
7 Ivan Rakitic, 10 Nico Kovac, 14 Luka Modric, 11 Darijo Srna; 18 Ivica Olic, 19 Niko
Kranjcar.
Turkey:
1 Rüstü Reçber; 3 Hakan Kadir Balta, 15 Emre Asik, 6 Mehmet Topal, 4 Gokhan Zan, 22
Hamit Altintop; 14 Arda Turan, 17 Tuncay Sanli, 20 Sabri Sarioglu; 8 Nihat Kahveci, 18
Colin Kazim-Richards.
Referee:
Roberto Rosetti (Italy)
Substitutions:
61 Mins - 16 Ugur Boral on for 18 Colin Kazim-Richards
64 Mins - 21 Mladen Petric on for 19 Niko Kranjcar
76 Mins - 9 Semih Sentürk on for 6 Mehmet Topal
97 Mins - 17 Ivan Klasnic on for 18 Ivica Olic
117 Mins - 10 Gökdeniz Karadeniz on for 8 Nihat Kahveci
 4 Yellow Cards:
27 Mins - Tuncay Sanli (Turkey)
49 Mins - Arda Turan (Turkey)
89 Mins - Ugur Boral (Turkey)
108 Mins - Emre Asik (Turkey)
Onto the semi-final.
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