The A1 autobahn is Europe's longest nationwide freeway. On Wednesday, a lot of it appeared filled with vehicles carrying Turkish followers to Hamburg, with flags hanging from Mercedes bonnets, flying from home windows, and repair stations crowded with followers.
They gathered on the Volksparkstadion on the sting of the town and, along with a Czech Republic contingent that is aware of learn how to make its voices heard, they turned the ultimate group recreation of this European Championship into an epidemic of ardour, color, drama, pressure and yellow playing cards.
There have been 15 in complete, a report for the event. In reality, there might have been extra. It was onerous to rely. The match ended with Hungarian referee Istvan Kovacs exhibiting nearly each participant on the pitch, and a few who had already been substituted and had been again on the pitch.
He had despatched off Antonin Barak within the first half and now he confirmed Tomas Chori a purple card for getting concerned in a melee within the final minute. Turkish wonderkid Arda Guler additionally bought a yellow card. The referee was so busy exhibiting playing cards that nobody even realised the match was over. It was chaos.
The sport was stuffed with anger and fury. Czechia made an amazing comeback which left the Turkish followers stressed and on edge at occasions as they pushed for a final minute win that may have given Turkey the win.
Cenk Tosun's last-minute objective helped Turkey beat Czechia to achieve the final 16 of Euro 2024
Hakan Calhanoglu's method was good and he gave his crew the lead early on
A report variety of yellow playing cards had been proven in the course of the recreation and chaos prevailed till full time
Georgia's shock win over Portugal made the match much more precarious for Turkey, however they held on after which scored an outstanding extra-time winner by Cenk Tosun to arrange a spherical of 16 conflict towards Austria in Leipzig on Tuesday. The Czechs completed backside of the group.
The noise was loud firstly, louder than any match to this point on this event. 'Turkey-eh, Turkey-eh, Turkey-eh,' the followers chanted time and again. When the Czechs had the ball, the sector was crammed with the noise of whistles.
However Czechia began higher. They took the lead and when the ball reached Lukas Provod, Turkey goalkeeper Mert Gunok needed to dive to his left and make a save from 20 yards.
Turkey had one other scare halfway by the half when Robin Hranak rose unmarked within the six-yard field however may solely put his header over the bar. However simply minutes later, the Czechs blew it away with a weird indiscipline.
Antonin Barak had already been booked for pulling Ferdi Kadioglu's shirt again and when he was overrun with the ball, he moved ahead in an try to get it again and stepped on Kenan Yildiz's foot. The referee confirmed a second yellow card and despatched him off.
Arda Guler tried an outstanding bicycle kick that heading in direction of objective however was brilliantly saved by Ladislav Krejci, however the recreation quickly began to get tense.
Czech striker Patrik Schick didn't make the beginning line-up however nonetheless managed to get booked for leaping off the bench to protest a foul on Provod. Schick was booked for the Czechs' loss to Portugal, so this yellow meant he would miss his facet's first knock-out recreation in the event that they progressed. It was one other ridiculous omission.
Yildiz was adjudged to have fouled Hranak and Czechs requested for a second yellow card in as many minutes when he dived for a header on Vladimir Coufal and Coufal fell down clutching his head. The referee opposed their request.
Tomas Soucek's (proper) objective gave his facet hope nevertheless it proved to be solely a comfort
As the strain subsided, the Turkish crew celebrated reaching the final 16, the place they’ll face Austria
Regardless of their misfortune and errors, the Czechs created the most effective probability of the half at halftime when Provod surged ahead from midfield and laid the ball into the trail of David Jurasek. Jurasek struck his shot clear however Gunok raced to catch it and blocked it from shut vary along with his glove. Jurasek walked down the tunnel at half-time along with his head in his arms.
5 minutes after the break, Turkey took the lead. Baris Alper Yilmaz broke down the best wing and his in the reduction of induced a stir within the goalmouth earlier than Ismail Yuksek pushed the ball into the trail of playmaker Hakan Calhanoglu. The Turkey captain's method was good.
He hit the ball along with his laces, chopping the ball barely out of the attain of Jindrich Stanek, who had been injured whereas defending seconds earlier and couldn’t play any additional. He was changed by former Burton Albion goalkeeper Matej Kovar.
Turkey ought to have had a second objective simply over an hour later when Yilmaz once more raced down the best and crossed throughout the six-yard field. It regarded like it could be a tap-in for Arda Guler however the ball was hit at such a excessive pace that the Actual Madrid wonderkid didn't get an opportunity to the touch it.
Tosun despatched his shot deep into the bottom, sending the Turkish supporters into raptures.
A number of substitute gamers who had been despatched off the sector earlier within the recreation had been booked by the referee.
A minute later, Czechia equalised. Tomas Chori leapt for a excessive ball with Gunok, who had been booked for time losing by now, however Gunok couldn't catch it cleanly. The ball got here free, Chori tried to clear the ball off the road after which Tomas Soucek headed the ball into the objective. Turkey was livid.
Their bench emptied and one other substitute was booked for dissent, however they held on till Tosun bought inside his man within the closing minutes and smashed his shot previous the goalkeeper, sending the Turkish followers into raptures.
