Turkey through after stunning comeback
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Turkey pulled off an astonishing encounter as the Turks came back from two goals down to book a spot in the last eight of Euro 2008.
Trailing 2-1 with less than five minutes to go, Nihat Kahveci scored twice in the 87th and 89th minutes to win the match.
A thrilling match which probably one of the most remarkable matches in European Championships' history.
The Czechs took a deserved lead in the 34th minute when Zdeněk Grygera's whipped in a cross from the right flank and a powerful header by Jan Koller gave the advantage for his side.
With 55 goals from 90 appearances, Koller is the leading scorer for his country, and the match also turn out to be his last appearance for his country.
Jaroslav Plašil looked to have sealed the match for the Czechs when he gave a 2-0 advantage in 62nd minute.
But Turkey showed fighting spirit and Arda Turan hit a superb strike past Czech goalkeeper Petr Čech to reduce the deficit with 15 minutes left.
Then a dreadful mistake by Čech allowed Turkish captain Nihat to score into an empty net with just three minutes left.
Čech, one of the best goalkeepers in the world, dropped a Hamit Altintop cross to allow Nihat struck the equaliser, summing up his miserable season.
Two minutes later Nihat broke the Czechs offside trap and the Villarreal striker put Turkish fans in seventh heaven when he produced an unstoppable winner from 18 yards.
There was more drama in the dying minutes when Turkish keeper Volkan Demirel was redcarded by Swedish referee Peter Frojdfeldt for pushing over Koller, but the Turks already used all three substitutions, forcing striker Tuncay Şanlı to play the keeper role for the final few seconds.
There was no need for the anticipated historic penalty shoot-out, which had been a pre-match option as both teams had identical Group A records from their two previous matches.
The defeat was cruel for Czech's coach Karel Brückner, who ended his seven-year reign as coach of the Czechs with an incredible collapse.
Many expected he would left with more pleasing memories, likely a repeat of their impressive performances in Euro 2004.
The result confirmed the Turks have finished as runner-up in Group A, while the Czechs pack their bags.
Turkey will now face Group B winners Croatia in Vienna on Friday.
Turkey: 23-Volkan Demirel; 22-Hamit Altintop, 13-Emre Güngör (15-Emre Aşık 63), 2-Servet Çetin, 3-Hakan Balta; 17-Tuncay Şanlı, 6-Mehmet Topal (18-Kazım Kazım 57), 7-Mehmet Aurelio, 14-Arda Turan; 9-Semih Şentürk (20-Sabri Sarıoğlu 46), 8-Nihat Kahveci
Czech Republic: 1-Petr Čech; 2-Zdeněk Grygera, 21-Tomáš Ujfaluši, 22-David Rozehnal, 6-Marek Jankulovski; 7-Libor Sionko (11-Stanislav Vlček 84), 3-Jan Polák, 17-Marek Matějovský (14-David Jarolim 39), 4-Tomáš Galásek, 20-Jaroslav Plašil (13-Michal Kadlec 80); 9-Jan Koller
Referee: Peter Frojdfeldt (Sweden)
Statistics:
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Trailing 2-1 with less than five minutes to go, Nihat Kahveci scored twice in the 87th and 89th minutes to win the match.
A thrilling match which probably one of the most remarkable matches in European Championships' history.
The Czechs took a deserved lead in the 34th minute when Zdeněk Grygera's whipped in a cross from the right flank and a powerful header by Jan Koller gave the advantage for his side.
With 55 goals from 90 appearances, Koller is the leading scorer for his country, and the match also turn out to be his last appearance for his country.
Jaroslav Plašil looked to have sealed the match for the Czechs when he gave a 2-0 advantage in 62nd minute.
But Turkey showed fighting spirit and Arda Turan hit a superb strike past Czech goalkeeper Petr Čech to reduce the deficit with 15 minutes left.
Then a dreadful mistake by Čech allowed Turkish captain Nihat to score into an empty net with just three minutes left.
Čech, one of the best goalkeepers in the world, dropped a Hamit Altintop cross to allow Nihat struck the equaliser, summing up his miserable season.
Two minutes later Nihat broke the Czechs offside trap and the Villarreal striker put Turkish fans in seventh heaven when he produced an unstoppable winner from 18 yards.
There was more drama in the dying minutes when Turkish keeper Volkan Demirel was redcarded by Swedish referee Peter Frojdfeldt for pushing over Koller, but the Turks already used all three substitutions, forcing striker Tuncay Şanlı to play the keeper role for the final few seconds.
There was no need for the anticipated historic penalty shoot-out, which had been a pre-match option as both teams had identical Group A records from their two previous matches.
The defeat was cruel for Czech's coach Karel Brückner, who ended his seven-year reign as coach of the Czechs with an incredible collapse.
Many expected he would left with more pleasing memories, likely a repeat of their impressive performances in Euro 2004.
The result confirmed the Turks have finished as runner-up in Group A, while the Czechs pack their bags.
Turkey will now face Group B winners Croatia in Vienna on Friday.
| Turkey |  | 3 - 2 |  | Czech Republic |
| Arda Turan 75 | Jan Koller 34 | |||
| Nihat Kahveci 87 | Jaroslav Plašil 62 | |||
| Nihat Kahveci 89 |
Turkey: 23-Volkan Demirel; 22-Hamit Altintop, 13-Emre Güngör (15-Emre Aşık 63), 2-Servet Çetin, 3-Hakan Balta; 17-Tuncay Şanlı, 6-Mehmet Topal (18-Kazım Kazım 57), 7-Mehmet Aurelio, 14-Arda Turan; 9-Semih Şentürk (20-Sabri Sarıoğlu 46), 8-Nihat Kahveci
Czech Republic: 1-Petr Čech; 2-Zdeněk Grygera, 21-Tomáš Ujfaluši, 22-David Rozehnal, 6-Marek Jankulovski; 7-Libor Sionko (11-Stanislav Vlček 84), 3-Jan Polák, 17-Marek Matějovský (14-David Jarolim 39), 4-Tomáš Galásek, 20-Jaroslav Plašil (13-Michal Kadlec 80); 9-Jan Koller
Referee: Peter Frojdfeldt (Sweden)
Statistics:
| Shots on target : | 8 | - | 4 |
| Shots off target : | 7 | - | 9 |
| Ball possession (%) : | 57 | - | 43 |
| Corner kicks : | 6 | - | 2 |
| Offsides : | 0 | - | 1 |
| Fouls : | 16 | - | 14 |
| Yellow cards : | 4 | - | 3 |
| Red cards : | 1 | - | 0 |
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