SPORTS/OLYMPICS> Off the Field
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SPORTS/OLYMPICS> Off the Field
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Turkey heroics add more sizzle to Euro 2008
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-06-16 11:34 TENERO, Switzerland - Turkey pulled off an extraordinary rescue to book a place in the Euro 2008 quarter-finals with a 3-2 win over the Czech Republic on Sunday after trailing by two goals with 15 minutes to go.
UEFA president Michel Platini had used an interview earlier on Sunday to extol a "sizzling" tournament that had upset established hierarchies in thrilling style but even he could not have foreseen the amazing climax in Geneva. Turkey's reward for victory is a last-eight clash with Group B winners Croatia in Vienna on Friday. The Turks' dramatic Group A win, however, sparked trouble in a Zurich public viewing area. Around 80 police wearing riot gear moved in to restore order after fighting broke out late in the game and two plasma screens showing the game were smashed, witnesses said. Fans problems have been rare so far at the June 7-29 tournament being staged jointly by Switzerland and Austria which has mainly been watched in an atmosphere of friendship and goodwill. The night also featured the farewell of co-hosts Switzerland to the tournament with a 2-0 win over Portugal, who had already sealed their place as Group A winners. It was the final match of the Swiss coach Koebi Kuhn who is now retiring. The Czechs had looked destined for the last eight after moving into a 2-0 lead with a Jan Koller header and Jaroslav Plasil's neatly taken second before Arda Turan gave Turkey what appeared to be a slim lifeline in the 75th minute. Petr Cech inexplicably dropped the ball at the feet of Nihat Kahveci to present the forward with a simple equaliser three minutes from time and two minutes later Nihat blasted home the winner for Turkey. Turkey keeper Volkan Demirel was then sent off in stoppage time for a shove with the ball out of play but the Czechs did not have time to mount a comeback. "I'm so sorry," said Czech Republic captain Tomas Ujfalusi. "We should have won this match. While the Swiss were saying goodbye with their 2-0 win over Portugal -- sealed with two Hakan Yakin goals, the second a penalty -- fellow co-hosts Austria were talking up their chances of eliminating old rivals Germany. "When people first started talking about this tournament there were a lot of jokes about us," team manager Andreas Herzog said ahead of Monday's Group B game, which Austria must win to stand a chance of going through. "Now it is all the more satisfying to show we have a real chance of advancing, and doing so against our arch-rivals." Austria drew first blood on Sunday when their topless women's soccer team beat a similarly under-dressed Germany side 10-5. "I hope our men will take heart from that tomorrow," 29-year-old bank employee Doris Fastenmeir told Reuters. "We played pretty hard and we even had some injuries. I, for example, broke my toe nail." Monday's fully clothed showdown between the men's national sides in Vienna's Ernst Happel stadium is reliably expected to be an even tougher battle where more toe nails not to mention hearts could well be broken. |
