Turkey’s 2-1 victory against the Czech Republic, who were left to question whether or not they should have advanced due to a contentious red card, set up a last-16 matchup with Austria.
The Czechs, who knew a victory would be enough to get them through, got off to a fast start, but were dealt a severe blow when, just 20 minutes in, Antonin Barak was given a harsh second yellow card for what appeared to be his own foul.
Ivan Hasek’s team persisted in their obstinate resistance, and they had the finest opportunity of the first half when Mert Gunok denied David Jurasek after Filip Chytil had set him up for a breakaway.
However, Turkey rallied before halftime, and Hakan Calhanoglu’s superb finish from a tight angle gave Jindrich Stanek no chance to win the game.
After Baris Yilmaz laid the ball on a plate for Arda Guler with a low cross that the Real Madrid phenom completely missed, Turkey should have doubled their lead.
Tomas Soucek, the Czechs’ substitute, levelled the score shortly after Gunok was denied a throw-in by Tomas Chory, who made him pay.
When VAR examined the goal and found no problem, the Turkish bench became so enraged that referee Istvan Kovacs booked two of the people sitting in the dugout right away.
In the last 20 minutes, both teams exchanged blows as the Czech Republic looked for a winner to send them through, but they were left empty-handed as Turkey won thanks to an injury-time goal from Cenk Tosun.
Group F
| Pos. | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS | Form | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 |
Portugal | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
WWL
|
| 2 |
 |
Turkey | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
WLW
|
| 3 |
 |
Georgia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
LDW
|
| 4 |
 |
Czech Rep | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 1 |
LDL
|
They will now play Austria in Leipzig on Tuesday; the victor of that match will advance to the quarterfinals and face either Romania or the Netherlands.
Card-obsessed At the final siren, Kovacs’ work was not finished as Chory was given a red card for a brawl that occurred after the game, and Guler and Soucek were also booked, bringing the total number of cards shown to 21.
Group F results
Jun 18 |
||||||||
| FT | Turkey | |
3 | v | 1 | |
Georgia | |
| FT | Portugal | |
2 | v | 1 | |
Czech Rep | |
Jun 22 |
||||||||
| FT | Georgia | |
1 | v | 1 | |
Czech Rep | |
| FT | Turkey | |
0 | v | 3 | |
Portugal | |
Jun 26 |
||||||||
| FT | Czech Rep | |
1 | v | 2 | |
Turkey | |
| FT | Georgia | |
2 | v | 0 | |
Portugal | |
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