Noise and heat, hectic activity, fouls and emotions: Driven forward with their usual passion by their fans, Turkey took the step into the round of 16 in the hot north on Wednesday evening. Against a quickly decimated Czech team, Hakan Calhanoglu’s goal in the 56th minute and Cenk Tosun’s 2-1 winner in injury time were enough to survive Group F in second place and face Austria in Leipzig on Tuesday evening.
“This is just the beginning,” announced goalscorer Tosun exuberantly. Nevertheless, the former Frankfurt player is also aware of the strength of the round of 16 opponent: “We will prepare well and of course we want to win.”
The Czech Republic, brave and never giving up, managed to equalise at 1:1, but ended up in last place with only two points. Two fouls within nine minutes left them short-handed early on. Antonin Barak first held Kadioglu, then stepped on Özcan’s foot. After 20 minutes the game was over for him. Up until then the Czechs had attacked in a controlled and confident manner. Reduced by their attacking midfielder, they retreated without Turkey being able to do much with the space. Their performance lacked determination. When Kenan Yildiz was shown a yellow card and then elbowed again within 120 seconds, luck was on his side.
The match had long been disjointed, interrupted by fouls and warnings. The Turks managed to get the better of their opponents a few times, but the Czechs survived the first half without much wobble. Even more was possible. A counterattack via Lukas Provod in the final minute of the first half failed to put David Jurasek in the Turkish goal.
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With a dynamic start, the Turks tied up their opponents; again, legs and arms were in the way before Calhanoglu hit the far corner with a powerful right foot and made the stadium shake (56th minute). Before that, Czech goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek had injured his shoulder; he was replaced by Matej Kovar from Leverkusen.
The Czech Republic stayed close and equalised ten minutes later through Tomas Soucek. It was up and down until the end, the Czech Republic ran – and conceded the 1:2 late
