Turquía avanza a octavos de final de la Eurocopa con una tensa victoria sobre los checos

AFP

Turkey reached the knockout phase at a major tournament for the first time in 16 years after a bad-tempered 2-1 win over a battling 10-man Czech Republic at Euro 2024 on Wednesday.

Vincenzo Montella's Turkey finished second in Group F behind Portugal to progress, as the Czechs were eliminated despite a brave performance on a sweltering night in Hamburg.

Georgia also went through as one of the best third-placed teams after a stunning 2-0 win over Portugal in the group's other final game, eliminating Hungary.

Turkey will face Austria in the last 16 in Leipzig on Tuesday, their first major tournament knockout match since the Euro 2008 semi-finals when they were beaten by Germany.

The Czechs were reduced to 10 men in the 20th minute when Antonin Barak was given the earliest red card in Euros history, beating the unwanted record set by France's Eric Abidal in 2008.

Barak's pair of bookings were two of 18 yellow cards shown in total, with Tomas Chory also shown red after the final whistle in ugly scenes.

Hakan Calhanoglu powered Turkey into a 51st-minute lead, but Tomas Soucek lashed in an equaliser midway through the second half.

A frantic finale to the game ensued as the Czech Republic pushed for the winner that would take them through, but Cenk Tosun ended their hopes on the counter-attack in added time.

There were ugly scenes at the final whistle as fans ran onto the pitch, with Czech forward Chory brandished a red card in the aftermath.

"We are upset, everyone wanted to advance, we had the right mindset," said Soucek.

"It was terribly hard with ten men, we didn't want to concede, then we did, we levelled and pushed them until the last minute but then we conceded another."

The Czechs started strongly despite the tens of thousands of Turkey fans jeering their every touch, with Lukas Provod forcing Mert Gunok into an early save with a deflected shot.

They were especially dangerous from Vladimir Coufal's long throw-ins, one of which Robin Hranac headed over when unmarked.

But Turkey were given a huge boost as midfielder Barak caught Salih Ozcan by the halfway line and was shown a soft second yellow card.

Key Czech striker Patrik Schick could only feature among the substitutes after picking up an injury in the draw with Georgia last week.

He was given a yellow card for protesting from the bench after Provod was felled by flying challenge.

- Tempers fray -

Turkey winger Kenan Yildiz was fortunate to stay on the pitch, only receiving a yellow for a nasty tackle on Hranac before elbowing Coufal in the face without punishment as tempers threatened to boil over.

Montella's side were struggling to break down their opponents despite the man advantage and almost fell behind when David Jurasek was denied by Gunok after a quick counter-attack.

Knowing defeat could send them home with Georgia leading Portugal, Turkey started brightly after the break and released the pressure on themselves with a crucial opening goal.

Yildiz tuvo un disparo brillantemente detenido por Jindrich Stanek, pero el portero checo sufrió una lesión en el brazo al hacer la parada y mientras luchaba por volver a su posición, Calhanoglu clavó el balón en la esquina inferior.

Stanek fue reemplazado inmediatamente por el suplente Matej Kovar como parte de un triple cambio.

Los checos se vieron cada vez más presionados mientras buscaban los dos goles que necesitaban para permanecer en el torneo y la estrella adolescente turca Arda Guler no logró convertir desde apenas tres metros.

Pero Soucek dio esperanzas a los checos cuando disparó a casa después de que Gunok perdiera el balón tras otro lanzamiento de Coufal al área.

El gol sobrevivió a una larga revisión del VAR por una posible falta sobre el avergonzado portero y una mano, antes de ser finalmente concedido para preparar un final emocionante.

La República Checa de Ivan Hasek lanzó a tantos jugadores como pudo, pero no pudo encontrar un momento mágico.

En cambio, Turquía les acertó en el descanso y el suplente Tosun remató con precisión en la esquina más alejada, antes de que el partido terminara de manera apasionante.

jc/pi

© Agencia France-Presse