Czech coach Karel Bruckner recalled Jan Koller to his starting line-up, with Milan Baros dropped to the bench, while Turkey made three changes from the win over Switzerland, with Semih Senturk handed a start after scoring in that game.Ten-man Turkey clinched a place in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 with a stunning last-gasp 3-2 victory over the Czech Republic in Geneva.
The Czechs made a bright start and dominated the opening minutes, without seriously testing Turkish goalkeeper Volkan.Libor Sionko was lively on the right flank, cutting inside to curl one shot narrowly wide of the far post just before the half-hour mark.
Soon after the Czechs took the lead as Zdenek Grygera found some space down the right and his cross was headed powerfully past Volkan by the giant Koller, despite the keeper getting a hand to the ball.
Turkey came out fired up after the interval and pressed the opposition deeper in defence, but their pressure failed to yield dividends, with Koller wasting a clear opening before the Czechs doubled the lead soon after the hour.
The impressive Sionko crossed from the right and Jaroslav Plasil arrived right on cue to net at the far post, with Volkan almost keeping the ball out again.
That seemed to be game over, but Turkey went on to mount one of the great comebacks in international football history.Firstly, Jan Polak hit the post from Sionko's cross and then took a boot to the head as he dived to meet the loose ball, before Volkan collected.
Fifteen minutes from time, Turan Arda pulled the first goal back, as he converted Hamit Altintop's cross to the far post. However, that didn't look like making much difference as the game entered its final couple of minutes.Petr Cech then chose exactly the wrong moment to make a fatal error, spilling a routine catch from Altintop to allow Nihat to turn the loose ball home from a few yards out.
That left a penalty shootout looming to decide who would go through to the last eight, but Turkey and Nihat had other ideas, as the diminutive striker broke the offside trap and curled home a superb right-foot shot from the edge of the area in the final minute of normal time.
There was still time for Turkey keeper Volkan to be red-carded for a needless shove on Koller, but Turkey held on to clinch a famous victory and leave the Czechs devastated at an early exit.
Full Main Highlights (16:15 min)
Turkey 3 - 2 Czech Republic34′ [0 - 1] J. Koller
62′ [0 - 2] J. Plasil
75′ A. Turan [1 - 2]
87′ N. Kahveci [2 - 2]
89′ N. Kahveci [3 - 2]
90′ V. Demirel (red card for Turkey)
Match Statistics:
shots on target : 8 - 4
shots off target : 7 - 9
possession (%) : 57 - 43
corner kicks : 6 - 2
offsides : 0 - 1
fouls : 16 - 14
yellow cards : 4 - 3
red cards : 1 - 0
Referee: Peter Frojdfeldt (Sweden)
Attendance: 30,000.
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