Turkish soccer players beat Austria 2:1 at the European Championship in Leipzig and will play in the quarter-finals after 16 years. In it, they will face the Netherlands on July 6 in Berlin. Stopper Merih Demiral became the hero of the round of 16, scoring the opening two goals of the match in the first and 59th minutes. In the 67th minute, substitute Michael Gregoritsch only reduced.
The Austrians scored in the second minute of the friendly match at home in March and outclassed the Turks 6:1, but today the opponent struck early. At the end of the first minute, after a corner kick and a series of rebounds from the defending players, the ball reached Demiral and he sent it uncompromisingly under the crossbar.
The strike in the 57th second marked a new playoff record, previously held by Poland’s Robert Lewandowski, who scored after 100 seconds in the 2016 quarter-final against Portugal.
The winners of Group D did not keep a clean sheet even in the fourth match of the tournament. The Austrian national team scored the fastest goal since the duel with the then German Democratic Republic in 1965.
Baumgartner could have equalized from the next action, narrowly missing with a cross shot. The same player had another great chance in the fifth minute, when a cross went to him at the back post in the corner, but he was unable to direct the ball into the net as it fell. An attractive opening ten minutes ended with Lienhart’s header just over the crossbar.
In the rest of the first half, the Austrians conquered the Turkish defense in vain, but as time went on, their pressure weakened. On the other hand, in the 24th minute, Demiral got into the goal again after a corner kick, heading over by a meter.
Coach Rangnick made two changes to the lineup at the start of the second half and his team came alive again. In the 51st minute, Arnautovic was completely alone in front of Günok after Posch’s cross, but the best scorer of the current Austrian team with 37 goals did not shoot the Turkish goalkeeper. Immediately Laimer and Posch also failed from promising positions.
The Turks started without their well-known captain and excellent executor of set-pieces Calhanoglu, but they still prevailed for the second time after a corner kick. In the 59th minute, Güler found Demiral again with a cross to the front post, who this time finished with a close-range header. The 26-year-old stopper scored two goals in one match for the first time in the national team, scoring four times in total in his career.
The Austrians responded in the 66th minute also after a corner. Posch extended the cross with his head to the back post, where Gregoritsch was ready. The 30-year-old striker made his first appearance at the Euros and followed up the hat-trick from the March match. Even the Turks did not reach their first zero in the tournament.
The duel culminated in the final quarter of an hour in heavy rain, in which the Austrians created overwhelming pressure at times. In the 84th minute, Günok ran up a cross and Baumgartner could equalize into the open goal, but he did not reach the ball perfectly with his head. The underdog of the match had a 100% chance at the end of the set-up, when Günok’s header from the small goal area was deflected off the three posts with a great reflex.
In the end, the Turks defended their third ever promotion to the Euro quarterfinals. Even a 20:6 shooting advantage did not help the Austrians.
European Football Championship in Germany – Round of 16:
Leipzig: Austria – Turkey 1:2 (0:1)
Goals: 66. Gregoritsch – 1. and 59. Demiral. Referees: Dias – Soares, Ribeiro – Martins (video, all Portuguese). ŽK: Schmid, Lienhart – Yüksek, Özcan. Spectators: 40,000.
Rakousko: Pentz – Posch, Danso, Lienhart (65. Wöber), Mwene (46. Prass) – Seiwald, Sabitzer – Laimer (65. Grillitsch), Baumgartner, Schmid (46. Gregoritsch) – Arnautovic. Trainer: Rangnick.
Turecko: Günok – Müldür, Bardakci, Demiral, Kadioglu – Yüksek (58. Özcan), Ayhan – Güler (78. Yokuslu), Kökcü (83. Kahveci), Yildiz (78. Aktürkoglu) – Yilmaz. Trainer: Montella.
2024-07-02 21:05:43
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