Wednesday evening, Turkey, three points, and the Czech Republic, one unit, face each other to try to qualify for the round of 16 of the Euro. In 2008, in a confrontation with the same stakes, the two selections delivered a crazy, improbable match, and even on the verge – at three minutes rather – of being unique in the entire history of the European Championship.
On June 15, 2008, the two teams both had three points before their clash, again the last match of the group stage, and a draw was supposed to create a situation not seen since the appearance of the group stage. in 1980. Before their opposition, the two selections, which fell – like this year – with Portugal and beaten by the Seleçao, found themselves perfectly tied: same number of points, same goal difference (-1), same number of goals marked (2).
Result: in the event of a draw at the end of regulation time, the two teams must be separated by… a penalty shootout! But this outcome seems unlikely to happen. The giant Jan Koller opened the scoring with a powerful ball kick (34th), Jaroslav Plasil in turn took a perfect cross to, with a sliding tackle, bring the score to 2-0 (72nd). Karel Brückner’s players are close to 3-0 when Jan Polak hits the post, the Turks are in distress, there are fifteen minutes left and then… everything changes.
On a cross from Hamit Altintop, Arda Turan reduced the gap (75th). After having lost the English championship title by a hair’s breadth, lost the Champions League final with Chelsea (1-1 aet, 5-6 on penalties against Manchester United), Petr Cech is not blameless on the spot. But that is nothing compared to his monumental blunder to come. The Czech goalkeeper is a monster, usually extremely reliable. But that day, he is consumed by feverishness.
A reversal in three minutes
And, while Turkey was putting on phenomenal pressure, three minutes from the end of regulation time, the former Rennes player released an innocuous aerial cross from Altintop into the feet of Nihat Kahveci, who was surprised to see the ball fall back on him and fly towards the goal (2-2, 87th). There were three minutes left and, inevitably, everyone was thinking about it: a penalty shootout, still unthinkable a quarter of an hour earlier, would decide between the two teams. It would never happen.
In the 89th minute, Nihat, launched deep, controlled, sent a curling shot which hit the underside of the bar before penetrating the goal and bringing the generation of Cech, Rozenhal, Ujfalusi and Jankulovski to their knees. Article 7, paragraph 8 of the Euro 2008 regulations will not apply. The Czech Republic is eliminated, Turkey, buoyed by its euphoria, will narrowly fail in the semi-finals against Germany (2-3). Sixteen years later, seeing these images again gave us fucking chills. We hope to have as much excitement this Wednesday.
