Turkey 1 Croatia 1 (AET, 0-0 after 90 mins, turkey win 3-1 on pens): FOOTBALL CAN be cruel. Croatia were last night beaten by Turkey in a dramatic penalty shoot -out at the end of a quarter-final tie they had largely dominated. Thus for the second time in six years, Turkey made it to the semi-final of a major tournament and they now move on to play Germany who were also in the last four of that 2002 World Cup.
Having looked a highly accomplished team for most of this tournament, the Croatians were caught out last night when two of their first three penalty kicks, taken by Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic, went wide.
With the Turks scoring all three of their first spot kicks through Nihat, Senturk and Altintop, the shoot-out ended in anti-climactic fashion when substitute Mladen Petric stepped up to see his shot, Croatia's fourth penalty, saved by goalkeeper Recber Rustu.
At 3-1 in their favour, Turkey had won the game and perhaps fortuitously, or merely thanks to the lottery of penalties, now find themselves in the semi-finals.
The shoot-out had come at the end of a dour clash in which all the goalscoring action had remarkably been reserved for the last two minutes.
When Modric, perhaps the best player on the night, beat Turkish goalkeeper Rustu to a ball that had looked to be on its way out for a corner kick in the 118th minute, alarm bells had rung in the Turkish defence. With Rustu out of position, Moldric chipped the ball into the centre for one time kidney failure victim, Ivan Klasnic, to score what was surely going to be the true fairytale winning goal.
In the very last minute of the match, however, Rustu hoisted a long kick out which the Croatian defence, for once, failed to clear. Nihat forced his way between Josip Simunic and Robert Kovac to fire a speculative shot that took a cruel deflection. From that point on it seemed the gods had taken Turkey's side.
Inevitably, the combination of the first real summer heat of the tournament and the high stakes engendered a cautious, tight game. The Croatians played their neat, tightly controlled game but without taking any risks, defending with six men for much of the time.
Turkey, if anything, were even more unadventurous, seemingly prepared to put all their attacking eggs into the counter-attacking basket. Not that this was a winning tactic against a Croatian side careful not to expose itself.
For most of the first half, Croatia seemed marginally more willing to take the initiative and it might have developed into a very different game if they had taken the first real chance of the game, This came when Darijo Srna sent Modric through into the Turkish penalty area. The Tottenham-bound midfielder made good ground before squaring an inviting low pass for striker Ivicia Olic.
The Hamburg man did well to beat Rustu to the ball as he slid in to meet it at full stretch but his shot crashed against the bar with the goalkeeper well beaten.
Niko Kranjcar, following up, got to the rebound but from a good position headed high over the bar. For all that the talented Modric was able to regularly thread balls out wide to Kranjcar or full back Danijel Pranjic on the left and to Srna and Olic on the right, that was the biggest fright the Turkish defence had in the first half.
The second half followed the pattern of the first when it was Croatia who come closest to breaking the deadlock. Chasing a nothing-looking long ball into the Turkish area, Olic rose to an awkward high bouncing ball, heading it past Rustu but wide.
Following the momentum of his attacking movement, Olic got to the header before it crossed the byline but he was unable to turn it into the empty net from an impossibly complicated, narrow angle.
With the game heading for a stalemate, Croatian coach Slaven Bilic turned to Mladen Petric, the Wembley "killer" responsible for the elimination of England from these championships. Although he came on for Kranjcar in the 65th minute, it was not until 18 minutes later that he made an impact on the game, hitting Turkey on the counter attack with a strong run that won Croatia a free kick from an inviting position on the edge of the area.
Srna hit the free brilliantly but just as his effort seemed to be on the way into the top corner, Rustu got across to make a splendid one -handed save from what was probably the best chance either side had in the second half.
CROATIA: Pletikosa, Corluka, Robert Kovac, Simunic, Pranjic, Srna, Modric, Nico Kovac, Rakitic, Kranjcar (Petric 64), Olic (Klasnic 97). Subs not used: Galinovic, Simic, Vejic, Vukojevic, Kalinic, Pokrivac, Knezevic, Leko, Runje. Goals: Klasnic 119.
TURKEY: Rustu, Altintop, Zan, Asik, Balta, Topal (Senturk 76), Sarioglu, Sanli, Turan, Kazim-Richards (Boral 61), Nihat (Karadeniz 117). Subs not used: Zengin, Cetin, Emre, Metin, Gungor, Akman, Erdinc. Booked: Sanli, Turan, Boral, Asik. Goals: Senturk 120.
Attendance: 50,000
Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy).
