Source: Xinhua
06-16-2008 09:39
Special Report: 2008 European ChampionshipsGENEVA, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Turkey scored their second comeback win in four days to book a quarterfinal berth at Euro 2008.
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| Turkey's Nihat Kahveci celebrates after scoring during the Euro 2008 Group A soccer match against Czech Republic at Stade de Geneve stadium in Geneva, Switzerland, June 15, 2008. Turkey won the match 3-2. (Xinhua Photo) |
On Sunday evening, the Turkish team stunned Czech Republic 3-2 thanks to two late goals from Nihat Kahveci.
"I congratulate my team for their great performance," said Turkey coach Fatih Terim. "It rained once again and we had to sweat once again.
"I send my love and greetings home to Turkey. Go out and celebrate, go out on the streets and savour this feeling."
Czech captain Tomas Ujfalusi said: "All we had to do was hold on to the end of the match and we would have won. We didn't do it."
The Czech Republic gained an upper hand in the first half as veteran striker Jan Koller opened the scoring at the 34th minute and midfielder jaroslav Plasil made it 2-0 at the 62nd minute.
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| Turkish players celebrate after scoring during the Euro 2008 Group A soccer match against Czech Republic at Stade de Geneve stadium in Geneva, Switzerland, June 15, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) |
It was Koller's 55th goal in 90 international appearance. He is now Czech Republic's all-time leading scorer.
Turkey were the better team in the second half, though the gap was once extended to 2-0 at the 62nd minute. To the contrary, the Czech team suffered from lapse of concentration and their defence looked shaky.
Arda Turan pulled one back for Turkey 15 minutes from time and the equaliser came in a dramatic way.
With three minutes left, Czech keeper Petr Cech inexplicably dropped the ball and Nihat slide the ball into the net.
Two minutes later, Nihat broke clear and sent the Turkish team into the quarterfinals with a right-foot shot outside of the penalty area.
