The Turks were in a fairly good position before the match against the Czechs. They simply could not afford a major failure. In contrast, a win was a must for the Czechs. The two teams focused on a ball war that was difficult for the referee to control at times. He changed his punishment strategy several times, but none of it really calmed the players down.
The rapid weakness of the Czech Republic, which Türkiye did not exploit
The first minutes were better for the Czechs, and they looked more convincing in attack. But among them was Antonin Barak, who could not control his temper. He received two yellow cards in 20 minutes and thus a red card. Our neighbors to the southwest had to play weak for more than an hour.
But the Turks did not take the initiative and did not shoot a single shot on goal in the first half. The action was largely based on the play of Arda Guler, but he did not get enough support. Kenan Yildiz was ready to be sent off, but Istvan Kovacs showed him only one yellow card. He played too aggressively and tried to end the game prematurely.
However, the Czechs did make a dangerous play towards the end of the first half. However, David Jurasek’s shot from a tight angle was saved. We did not see any goals until the end of the first half in Hamburg.
Football war
The second part of the match started much better for the Turks, who took the lead quickly after Hakan Calhanoglu’s brilliant outside-foot shot. It was worth switching to a higher level at such a moment in the match. The Inter Milan playmaker was left unmarked, which his country took advantage of in the match.
THowever, the Urks did not follow through. They pulled back again and allowed the Czechs to play the ball longer in attack. The Czechs made a series of crosses that looked dangerous, but did not pose much of a threat. This deficit was overcome only in the 66th minute. Thomas Chori won the aerial duel with the Turkish goalkeeper without committing any error. The Turks failed to clear the ball. It fell at the feet of Tomas Soucek, who shot it from close range without thinking. In this way he equalized the result. The blame for the goal scored lies solely with Mert Junuk, who stubbornly wanted to catch the ball, even though it would have been better to throw it.
Later in the match, there was an exchange of blows, with little emphasis on the Turks. It was full of ugly fouls, a lot of physical battles and frequent discussions with the referee. It is clear that Istvan Kovacs had no control over the match and was not consistent in his decisions. There were also complaints against the Romanian on both seats, and Kovacs was also willing to show yellow cards.
Türkiye dealt a devastating blow in the 95th minute. Cenk Tosun tried to shoot from long range and it was a good decision. It was the hit that won the match and earned her second place in the set. The Czechs were denied their dreams of possibly leaving the group.
The result ended with 2:1 for Turkey. The Czechs were eliminated from the European Championship, finishing last in the group with one point. Georgia qualified impressively from Group F by defeating Portugal 3-0 and dropping the Hungarians to fifth place in the table of third-placed teams.
After the final whistle in Hamburg, many Turkish fans ran onto the pitch, but there were also tensions between the Turkish and Czech players and the referee decided to punish Guler and Soucek off the pitch with yellow cards, and Sek showed a straight red card. In total, the referee issued up to 19 yellow cards and one red card.
Türkiye’s national team will play Austria, the leader of Group Four, in the round of 16.
“Bacon scholar. Incurable social media ninja. Professional travel aficionado. Beer buff.”
