Turks storm into last four

Source: Agencies  |   2008-6-22  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

TURKAY'S worst-case scenario wasn't too bad after all.

In Friday's European Championship quarterfinals against Croatia, just about everything the Turks wanted to avoid happened - they fell behind for a third consecutive match, and they had to play an extra half hour after a scoreless draw. But the Turks came through once more, beating Croatia 3-1 in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes in Vienna.

"We are a strong team and fought our way to the penalty shootout," said Turkey coach Fatih Terim. "The victory and everything else today happens once in a lifetime."

The win marked Turkey's best-ever result at the competition. The 2002 World Cup semifinalist next takes on Germany in the semifinals on Wednesday in Basel. The Germans beat Portugal 3-2 on Thursday in the first Euro 2008 quarterfinal.

Terim said he was proud of the team, which also rallied in last week's Group A matches to beat Switzerland 2-1 and the Czech Republic 3-2.

With five injured players already out, the Turks had hoped to avoid a fatiguing extension to the Croatia match which could physically harm even more players prior to the semifinals.

"We will be ready for Germany, I'm sure," striker Nihat Kahveci said. "We've got a couple of days to recover so we will be in good form."

After a scoreless first 90 minutes at Ernst Happel Stadium, Turkey had to be ready for the additional time. In the penultimate minute, the team dropped behind once again when Ivan Klasnic's header gave Croatia the lead. But with only few seconds left on the clock, goalkeeper Rustu Recber took a long free kick into the Croatian area, where Semih Senturk found the net with a thundering volley.

When the Croats missed two penalties, courtesy of Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic, and Recber stopped a third, by Mladen Petric, Turkey had completed another comeback miracle. Darijo Srna scored Croatia's only penalty.

Arda Turan, Semih and Hamit Altintop scored for Turkey.

"It was an incredible match," said midfielder Altintop, who was chosen man of the match. "We showed great morale, that was unbelievable."

But Terim faces an anxious wait to see what sort of team he will be able to put out in the semifinal, with injuries and suspensions. Terim went into the quarterfinal with just 15 outfield players and with eight of his starting XI on a yellow card. Three of those eight °?- Tuncay Sanli, Arda and Emre Asik - duly picked up bookings during the match and will be suspended.