June 15: Turkey vs Czech Republic [R]

[Neuwerld]

:eek: Incredible game, incredible tournament so far.

[4evermedi]

Sari Kanaryalar all the way...you are quite familiar with the Turkish leage , I see.:)

[HakanGS]

That is the spirit! thanks to football ... wellcome among us! :) jointhe party! But, be ready to have heart attacks for wathing the future Turkish games, I almost had for the last two!
Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone who has been supporting the Turks! Welcome.
WOW WHAT A Match!

Can't believe it. We were cheering Turkey but were ready to accept defeat. Then .. WOW. WOW. It's better than Liverpool vs. AC Milan ;) !

Outstanding. The winning goal wasn't offside at all, the Czech defense messed up! What a world class finish by Nihat, off the crossbar and in, WOWZERS!

I'm not even Turkish, but I'm in PARTAY mode!

[besiktasfan]

hope we can continue this against crotians ..and i believe that we can do that ! we are the only team in this tournament who wins the games even after we were getting beaten .. and we did it 2 times against swiss and czechs.. we are unexperienced because there are lots of young players in team ,some of them even just played their first match for the national team ..but they are all fighters , they play with their heart ! and they dont give up until the final wistle.. and also they have the talent and technique and the great motivator Fatih Terim.. in world cup 2002 we were playing exciting games and ppl who watch our team was having fun really, we played semis and got the 3rd place there .. once again we are back with even more exciment .. after euro2000 we will play our second quarter final ..we hope it goes more than quarters...

[footyfan1]

after looking back i admit that 'unforgivable' was too strong a word.

however i stand by my belief that it was a basic error that was the turning point in the game. if it doesn't happen then the Czech's don't lose.

once again i'll just say i don't hate Peter Cech. i'm a Scottish supporting Glasgow Celtic fan. why i would have any reason to hate him is beyond me...


Agree with "unforgivable" being too strong a word. That's what got at me last night. That's what prompted my reaction.

I don't know about Cech's mistake being THE turning point. I thought that match turned with the first Turkey goal.

Before that, the Czechs had a couple of opportunities to add a third and could not.

After that first Turkish goal, I even asked my friends watching with me, "Does it look like the Czechs are totally nervous now??"

Seriously man. The Turks came furiously after that first goal. What Cech's mistake seemed to do is break the spirit of some of his teammates. However, at the time of the mistake, from what I saw, the Czechs were already playing like they had crap in their pants. They had no composure.

They just couldn't finish it out.

Sure, the Cech mistake was a huge part of it. I never denied that. However, to blame the entire defeat on the Cech mistake, I think is short-sighted and not taking into account all of the events of last night.

Like I said last night, it was a CZECH collapse under the Turkish pressure, not just a CECH collapse. ;)

[footyfan1]

wow. i laughed hard when i saw how it was possible for volkan to throw a 2m and 100kg koller like a ragdoll. lol




I think Koller was trying to draw a penalty.

[footyfan1]

It's simply a tragedy for this great keeper! Reminds me of Kahn in the WC final 2002...


That's exactly what I thought of.......

And it took Kahn nearly two years to get over it.

[footyfan1]

I realize our loss went beyond a goal-keeper error; we looked in poor conditioning every game, starting around 70 minute we couldn't get much beyond an occasional long shot at Koller; I also feel taking Plasil out was a mistake, he is one of our better effort players and good in possesion.

We thought we had it won, but immediately recognized very common problems for us resurface... We are used to a team storming out the gate and dissapointing, it's our M.O. nowadays

Did you think Bruckner made a mistake taking Sionko out??

I thought he was Czech Republic's "heart" in this group phase.

Much like Ribery for France.

[footyfan1]

Thanks, I never saw that, I will have to watch the replays. I guess that if that was the case, Koller should have also found himself in the book. What an ending to the game!

IF that happened, it was obvious the referee or the linesman didn't see it. I'll have to watch the replay again too, because I didn't see anything out of the ordinary battle for the ball.

And seeing that Uwe decided to refer to Koller as the "Nuernberg Forward" (As I recall, FCN wasn't playing Turkey last night Uwe), tells me he was just looking for anything.

However Vulkan Demirel appeared to tell the referee Koller provoked him by saying something.

THAT, I do believe. I do think Koller said something offensive to him, but that doesn't justify Demirel's action.

I hope it does not cost Turkey in the next round.

[footyfan1]

After 0:2 the Turks played kamikaze football. That's OK, nothing to lose anymore, all or nothing.

If the Czechs had a skilled midfield, they would have counter attacked the Turks and won with high score, as Turks were wide open in the defense. But there are no Rosicky, Nedved, Smicer, Poborsky, .... anymore.

I don't understand why Baros did not play instead of slow Koller, he is exactly suitable for counter attacks.

Congrats to Turks, this is football with big heart!


TOTALLY AGREE!

This is why I thought Bruckner made a huge mistake when he took Sionko out of the match. Before last night, Sionko had been at the heart of almost all the offense the Czechs could muster.

[footyfan1]

Cech agrees with "frasermc."

But who expects a star with character to say anything else??

Story here. (http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-euroturkeycech_pix&prov=reuters&type=lgns)


I'm actually glad to see him giving himself the blame, though what he's saying isn't totally true.

He's taking the bullet for his teammates who also failed. Just as Oliver Kahn did after the 2002 World Cup for Germany.

However, Kahn then went into a tailspin for nearly two years.

It will be interesting to see how Cech comes out of this.

[Prawn Sandwich]

Going to be hard for him after such a tough year - persistent injuries, narrowly losing out to Manchester United in both the League and the CL (the latter on a penalty shoot out) and now this?

[Aziz1970]

"Değilse Portekiz, o zaman şampiyon Türkiye!". I don't know if my miserable turkish is enough to set up a coherent and understandable sentence, but you get the point.

Not miserable, quite understandable.

Blame Babelfish, not me :) Se não Turquia, então Portugal pode ser o campeão.

Thank you, and good luck.


I don't know about Cech's mistake being THE turning point. I thought that match turned with the first Turkey goal.

Totally agreed. After that Turkey was totally unstoppable.

Sure, the Cech mistake was a huge part of it. I never denied that. However, to blame the entire defeat on the Cech mistake, I think is short-sighted and not taking into account all of the events of last night.

Like I said last night, it was a CZECH collapse under the Turkish pressure, not just a CECH collapse. ;)

Indeed. Also keep in mind that Czech, finished 1st in qualification stage with just 5 goals conceded after 12 games. 3 goals in 15 mins. are something huge and unexpected.

[footyfan1]

Totally agreed. After that Turkey was totally unstoppable.

It was like they already knew they would win. And it seemed some of the Czechs knew it too.




Indeed. Also keep in mind that Czech, finished 1st in qualification stage with just 5 goals conceded after 12 games. 3 goals in 15 mins. are something huge and unexpected.

Yes, but those goals weren't all Cech's fault. Just the second one. And those numbers you posted aren't just a tribute to Cech, it's a tribute to the entire Czech defense which also faltered in that final fifteen minutes.

But since writers have to sell papers and know many of their fans don't like to think past the noses on their faces, they'll all simply blame Cech.

[Pit-182]

Best game of euro 2008 by far.

Anyway, wasn't Chech one of the greatest goalkeepers in the world? :eek:

[footyfan1]

Best game of euro 2008 by far.

Anyway, wasn't Chech one of the greatest goalkeepers in the world? :eek:


Didn't Oliver Kahn have the best tournament any keeper ever had in the 2002 World Cup? Wasn't he the only keeper ever to be named Outstanding Player at a World Cup?

How did that end for him? With what most people considered a huge mistake.

My point? Even the best make mistakes.

But I agree that Cech has been a bit overrated.

However, that also isn't his fault. He doesn't overrate himself, that is the media and fans who do so.

[Amsteldam]

Didn't Oliver Kahn have the best tournament any keeper ever had in the 2002 World Cup? Wasn't he the only keeper ever to be named Outstanding Player at a World Cup?

How did that end for him? With what most people considered a huge mistake.

But didnt Kahn have a broken or sprained finger??

[glennaldo_sf]

This match was a little reminiscent of another two goal comeback that ended 3-2 in the last Euros. ;)

Just goes to show what comes around, goes around.

[footyfan1]

But didnt Kahn have a broken or sprained finger??

No.

Kahn did not have an injury or make excuses.

[roxbury]

hope we can continue this against crotians ..and i believe that we can do that ! we are the only team in this tournament who wins the games even after we were getting beaten .. and we did it 2 times against swiss and czechs.. we are unexperienced because there are lots of young players in team ,some of them even just played their first match for the national team ..but they are all fighters , they play with their heart ! and they dont give up until the final wistle.. and also they have the talent and technique and the great motivator Fatih Terim.. in world cup 2002 we were playing exciting games and ppl who watch our team was having fun really, we played semis and got the 3rd place there .. once again we are back with even more exciment .. after euro2000 we will play our second quarter final ..we hope it goes more than quarters...

well said.

it was an amazing night:cool: