Now against Austria

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Inter star Hakan Çalhanoglu scored to make it 1-1.

(Bild: Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Turkey has set up a round of 16 clash with Austria at the European Football Championship in Germany. Team boss Vincenzo Montella's squad celebrated a 2:1 victory over the Czech Republic on Wednesday in Hamburg at the end of the group stage to finish second in Pool F behind Portugal. 

For the Portuguese, a 2-0 defeat against the Georgians, who also advanced, was meaningless. Austria and Turkey will meet in Leipzig on Tuesday (9 p.m.).

This will be a rematch of a test match in the European Championship preparations, in which the Austrian team clearly prevailed 6:1 in Vienna. It is also good news for Austria that Samet Akaydin and Hakan Calhanoglu picked up their second yellow cards of the tournament and will therefore have to sit out the round of 16. Second place was secured by young star Arda Güler and Co. as Calhanoglu (51) and "joker" Cenk Tosun (94) scored in the Volksparkstadion. A goal from Tomas Soucek (66) was not enough for the Czechs, who were outnumbered for a long time.

(Bild: AFP or licensors)

The Czechs, who were without Patrik Schick in the starting XI for the first time since their last European Championship group game in 2016, almost got off to a dream start when Lukas Provod was denied by goalkeeper Mert Günok (3'). At the other end, Güler, who started again this time, created the first chance but shot over (13'). The same happened with a header from Czech Robin Hranac (17). From the 20th minute at the latest, the Turks developed a power play, as Antonin Barak was shown the yellow card for a repeated foul.

(Bild: AFP or licensors)

However, the Czechs remained compact even when short-handed, closing down the space and leaving the Turks with only a few chances to score, such as an Akaydin header (28'). A yellow card was also in the air for the Turks in the 39th minute, but Kenan Yildiz was lucky not to be yellow-carded twice in a very short space of time after an elbow. Shortly before the break, the Czech Republic's David Jurasek tested the Turkish goalkeeper with a shot from an acute angle (45').

(Bild: Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Immediately after the restart, Jindrich Stanek had to save a Yilmaz shot (46') and made another brilliant save from a Yildiz shot, injuring his shoulder (51'). However, the ball remained in play after this save, could not be properly cleared by the Czechs and Calhanoglu scored with his full length shot into the far corner. Güler should have added to his tally, but failed to hit the ball properly after a Yilmaz cross (65'). That took its revenge on the counter-attack. After an aerial duel between Tomas Chory and Günok and a missed chance, Soucek dusted off from the five.

As a result, the Czechs were suddenly just one goal away from promotion and the Turks had to tremble, as they would have been eliminated had they conceded. However, the Turks came closer to scoring, missing the winning goal when Okay Yokuslu (87') missed a chance. In stoppage time, Tosun made everything clear with a combination of two substitutes. After the final whistle, several players got into a scuffle and Chory was shown the red card. Unlike in 2016 and 2021, the Turks once again made it through to the European Championship group stage.

Czech Republic - Turkey 1:2 (0:0)
Hamburg, Volksparkstadion
refereed by Kovacs (ROU).

Goals: 
0:1 (51') Calhanoglu
1:1 (66') Soucek
1:2 (94') Tosun

Czech Republic: Stanek (55. Kovar) - Holes, Hranac, Krejci - Coufal, Soucek, Barak, Provod (75. Lingr), D. Jurasek (81. M. Jurasek) - Chytil (55. Kuchta), Hlozek (55. Chory)

Turkey: Günok - Müldür, Akaydin, Demiral, Kadioglu - Özcan (46. Ayhan), Güler (75. Tosun), Yüksek (63. Yokuslu) - Yilmaz, Calhanoglu (87. Kökcü), Yildiz (75. Aktürkoglu)

Yellow-Red Card: Barak (20./Foul)

Red card: Chory (rough play/after the end of the match)

Yellow cards: Schick, Jaros, Cerv (all substitutes), Krejci, Soucek or Özcan, Yildiz, Yüksek, Günok, Cakir (substitute goalkeeper), Calhanoglu (suspended against Austria), Müldür, Akaydin (suspended against Austria), Ayhan, Kökcü, Güler