Croatia 1-1 Turkey (1-3 In penalties)

Turkey will meet Germany in the Euro 2008 semi-final after beating Croatia 3-1 on penalties after a dramatic extra-time finale in Vienna.

Ivan Klasnic headed Croatia in front with seconds left - only for Turkey's Semih Senturk to volley the equaliser with the last kick of the game.

Arda Turan, Semih and Hamit Altintop scored in the shoot-out for Turkey.

Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic missed for Croatia and Turkey keeper Rustu saved the deciding kick from Mladen Petric.

It was astonishing finish to a dreadful game, especially for Turkey keeper Rustu, who made an awful error that looked to have given Crotia victory before his free-kick set up Semih for the leveller as referee Roberto Rosetti prepared to blow the final whistle.
Croatia coach Slaven Bilic, who had celebrated what he thought was a famous victory with his players only seconds earlier, could not lift his deflated players and they looked a beaten side even before the penalty shoot-out.

Turkey, in contrast grasped the lifeline and Euro 2008's great survivors and late show specialists were through again, having led matches for only nine minutes in the entire tournament.

They face a huge task against Germany, however, after losing Arda, Tuncay Sanli and Emre Asik to suspensions after they were given yellow cards - and with keeper Volkan Demirel already out in similar circumstance.

But Fatih Terim's side must believe destiny is on their side after another remarkable escape act to follow their last-minute win against the Czech Republic that put them in the last eight.

Turkey recalled 35-year-old veteran Rustu in goal in place of the banned Volkan - and it was more a case of rusty in the first 45 minutes as he produced an uncertain display that spread uncertainty through his defence.

They had a remarkable escape in the 18th minute when Spurs' new midfield man Modric carved out a simple chance for Ivica Olic, only for the striker to somehow rattle the bar from six yards out.

Niko Kranjcar headed the rebound over the top with the entire Croatian bench, led by coach Bilic, already starting to celebrate.

Turkey, hit by injuries and suspension, were struggling to achieve any cohesion, but Mehmet Topal almost stunned Croatia keeper Stipe Pletikosa with a rising 35-yard shot that flew inches wide.

Olic was involved again as Croatia threatened to turn their superiority into a lead five minutes after the interval, when he headed the ball over the on-rushing Rustu - and was then presented with a second chance by Emre Asik but was able to find the target.

Turkey were providing stubborn resistance, but Croatia were also guilty of wasting chances when they presented themselves.

Olic turned creator to tee up Rakitic with 20 minutes left, but he rushed his finish and shot wildly over the top.

Rustu conjured up some of his old magic after 83 minutes as he dived high to his left to turn away a Darijo Srna free-kick that was destined for the top corner.

Modric was easily the game's most creative performer and with just a minute to go in normal time he set up Olic, but Rustu was perfectly placed to block.

Olic had endured a wayward night in front of goal, and he was off target again with the final kick before the game went into extra time.

Turkey actually looked the fresher side in the additional period and Semih flashed an angled shot just over with Pletikosa beaten.

Tuncay was even closer after 111 minutes with a 20-yard shot that was only inches away.

A terrible misjudgement by Rustu appeared to give Croatia victory in the dying seconds of extra time when he inexplicably raced out of his goal to try and tackle Modric - and he was stranded out of his goal as Klasnic headed in his cross.

Croatia's celebrations were wild, with coach Bilic heavily involved, and yet this tournament has told us never to write off Turkey.

And they equalised with literally the final kick of the game when Semih struck a superb finish as Croatia failed to clear a desperate punt into the area by Rustu.

Croatia looked devastated as the penalty shoot-out started, and they got off to the worst possible start when Modric placed his kick wide.

Arda, Semih and Hamit scored convincingly for Turket, but only Srna scored for Croatia with Rakitic missing and Rustu - the most relieved man in the stadium after his late mistake - saving from Petric.


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.

Turkey win 3-1 on penalties

Att: 50,000

Ref: Roberto Rosetti (Italy).

from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/

Croatia vs Turkey Prediction

The second round of the 2008 EURO Quarter Finals gets started, on Friday June 20, with Croatia vs Turkey, at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna. Turkey will be without their starting goalie after he was suspended two games. Will this favor a Croatian team that’s proven themselves offensively throughout the EURO Group stages? Oddsmakers at SBGglobal.com think so as Croatia are -115 moneyline favs over Turkey who are listed as +320 underdogs. Get your Croatia vs Turkey: EURO 2008 Quarter Final Prediction in now at SBGglobal.com

Turkey finished second in Group A standings with a 2W-0D-1L record after losing their opener to Portugal 0-2, then beating Switzerland 2-1 and the Czech Republic 3-2. They scored five goals and allowed five. Nihat Kahveci (2), Arda Turan (2) and Semih Senturk are the goal scorers for Turkey. A big blow to the Turks is the two game suspension to goalie Volkan Demirel after he pushed Czech striker Jan Koller to the ground in an off-the-ball incident. He sat on the bench after his dismissal when he should have left the technical area, thus the two game ban. 2002 World Cup keeper Rustu Recber will take Volkan's place. Defensive midfielder Mehmet Aurelio is suspended for the quarter-final after picking up a second yellow card against the Czechs and captain Emre Belozoglu has a hamstring problem and has not played since their opening Group A defeat by Portugal. Central defender Emre Gungor, who was carried off in the second half of Sunday's match, has a calf strain and is out of the tournament. Turkey is going to have to rely on players that haven’t played in this tournament or haven’t played enough. They have a total of seven starting players out. But despite all that’s bad Turkey will continue to attack Croatia. “We have been disappointing in the first half of our matches but I think this happened because we were trying to spot our opponents' weak spots so we could attack them in the second. Against Croatia, we will start aggressively, at a high-tempo.” Defender Sabri Sarioglu added. “Our biggest advantage is that we never give up.”said coach Fatih Terim. Get your Croatia vs Turkey: EURO 2008 Quarter Final Prediction in now

Croatia finished first in Group B standings after a perfect 3W-0D-0L record. They shutout Austria 1-0, beat Germany 2-1 and shutout Poland 1-0. They had four goals for and one goal against. Ivan Klasnic, Ivica Olic, Darijo Srna and Luka Modric are the goal scorers for Croatia. Croatia striker Igor Budan will miss the rest of Euro 2008 with a knee injury and defender Dario Knezevic is out with a knee injury after their 1-0 Group B win over Poland on Monday. Croatia has been impressive throughout Group qualifying but they don’t feel like they’ve proven anything yet by making the final eight. “We don't see ourselves as a revelation any more, although some people perhaps still do. In our own eyes, we haven't achieved anything spectacular by reaching the last eight because that was our primary objective before the tournament started” coach Slaven Bilic said. Croatia have great talent and if they can play as a team instead of depending on individual players, they will be a force to reckon with.

Head to Head: 3 matches played
Croatia leads 1-0
2 matches ended in a draw
Croatia scored four goals
Turkey scored three goals

from: http://www.point-spreads.com/

Polandia 0-1 Croatia

Ivan Klasnic fired the game's only goal for Croatia as Poland's unlikely bid to reach the last eight ended in failure.

Needing to beat Croatia by at least two goals, and for Germany to lose to Austria, only a string of Artur Boruc saves kept Poland's losing margin down.

Danijel Pranjic, Ivan Rakitic and Klasnic had all been denied before the latter lashed in the winner left-footed from 12 yards early in the second half.

Ebi Smolarek wasted late Poland chances but Group B winners Croatia held firm.

Slaven Bilic's team will be full of confidence ahead of their quarter-final against Turkey on Friday after a side boasting nine changes to the one that beat Germany last time out maintained their 100% record in the 2008 tournament.

And the story of the match was made all the more remarkable by the fact that Klasnic only underwent a kidney transplant last year, having suffered kidney failure in January 2007 - and his emotional celebrations told a story all on their own.

Poland came into the match still feeling aggrieved at English referee Howard Webb's decision to award Austria a penalty in injury time in the previous group match to deny them victory.

But any hopes they had of proving they deserved a place in the last eight fell flat, despite an encouraging opening 10 minutes.

First Wojciech Lobodzinski forced a hurried save from Croatia keeper Vedran Runje with a fine, whipped cross and then Dariusz Dudka headed inches wide of the goal from Jacek Krzynowek's corner.

But with Smolarek, their leading goalscorer in qualifying, left on the bench, Poland lacked any penetration and when Croatia settled into their stride, it was left to Boruc to keep the Poles in the game single-handedly.

Even having made so many changes, Croatia showed glimpses of their class, and Hrvoje Vejic was unlucky not direct his header home on 20 minutes from Ivan Rakitic's cross.

Thereafter, it was the Boruc show, Klasnic twice denied by the big Celtic keeper after dashing through a static Polish back line, and Rakitic and Pranjic both seeing firm drives beaten away in the closing stages of the first half.

Minutes after the restart, news filtered through from Vienna that Michael Ballack had put Germany ahead against Austria, effectively ending Poland hopes of qualification.

And, almost as if the news had finally broken their resistance, Poland found themselves behind just seconds later, Klasnic latching on to Pranjic's cut-back and lashing into the far corner left-footed.

Poland raced up the other end, Rafal Murawski sending a drive wide of the upright from 20 yards, but in truth their challenge was done and dusted.

To their credit, Leo Beenhakker's side plugged away and, after Smolarek had been introduced, Roger Guerreiro nearly levelled when he turned in the box and drilled wide.

Southampton striker Marek Saganowski also forced a save from Runje with a firm header, but Croatia always looked relatively comfortable - their main concern being to get through the game without injury.

With that in mind, match-winner Klasnic was removed from the action 16 minutes from time, allowing the last member of Croatia's squad not to have tasted Euro 2008 action - Nikola Kalinic - a piece of the action.

There was still time for Smolarek to twice drill decent efforts narrowly wide of the target and Thomasz Zahorski to waste Poland's best chance of the night - denied by Runje after sprinting clear of the Croatia defence.

But the Croats played out the last few minutes comfortably to extend their recent record to just two competitive defeats in four years and underline their potential as one of the tournament's dark horses for the title.


Poland: Boruc, Wasilewski, Zewlakow, Dudka, Wawrzyniak, Lobodzinski (Smolarek 55), Murawski, Roger, Lewandowski (Kokoszka 46), Krzynowek, Saganowski (Zahorski 69).
Subs Not Used: Kowalewski, Fabianski, Jop, Golanski, Bak, Gargula, Pazdan.

Booked: Lewandowski, Zahorski.

Croatia: Runje, Simic, Vejic, Knezevic (Corluka 26), Pranjic, Leko, Vukojevic, Pokrivac, Rakitic, Klasnic (Kalinic 74), Petric (Kranjcar 75).
Subs Not Used: Pletikosa, Galinovic, Simunic, Robert Kovac, Nico Kovac, Srna, Modric, Olic, Budan.

Booked: Vejic, Vukojevic.

Goals: Klasnic 52.

Att: 30,000

Ref: Kyros Vassaras (Greece).

from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/

Germany 1-2 Croatia

Croatia booked their place in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 after stunning pre-tournament favourites Germany with a 2-1 victory in Group B.

Having already defeated Austria, goals from Darijo Srna and Ivica Olic at Worthersee stadium handed Croatia another three points, while Germany could only pull back a late consolation through Lukas Podolski.

And as co-hosts Austria grabbed a late point against Poland in Thursday's late kick-off, Croatia were guaranteed a place in this year's final eight.

Croatia took the lead in the 24th minute as Danijel Pranjic crossed well from the left and Germany full-back Marcell Jansen was caught on his heels to allow Srna to prod past helpless shot-stopper Jens Lehmann.

Germany struggled for rhythm in the first half and only looked like drawing level when Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack curled a 30-yard free-kick towards goal, but Croatia goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa was equal to the effort.

Manager Joachim Low opted to shuffle his German pack at the interval as David Odonkor replaced the ineffective Jansen, but the change made little difference as Croatia doubled their advantage on 62 minutes.

Ivan Rakitic saw his right-wing cross deflect of the arm of Podolski to wrong-foot Lehmann and hit the post, and Olic responded the quickest to tap in.

Germany were to grab a lifeline on 79 minutes as Podolski fired his third of the tournament after Croatia failed to clear a Philipp Lahm cross, but Bastian Schweinsteiger's red card following retaliation to a Jerko Leko challenge ruled out an equaliser.

Both sides came into the game having won their opening matches, although Germany had looked far more impressive in seeing off Poland than Croatia had in defeating Austria.

from: http://euro2008.sportinglife.com/football/

Austria 0-1 Croatia

AN EARLY Luka Modric penalty and some committed late defending proved enough for Croatia to beat co-hosts Austria and get their Euro 2008

Croatia were worth their win against a team placed 92nd in Fifa's world rankings.

Austria's disjointed efforts in the first hour betrayed a two-year lack of competitive action but they came to life in the latter stages.

In a rousing finale that had the 51,428 crowd roaring, the hosts laid siege to the Croatian area but through a combination of misplaced passes and desperate defending, they rarely threatened goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa, who was surprisingly named man of the match by Uefa.

The game had begun in a great atmosphere as Croatia's 20,000 fans outsung the home supporters, but the die was cast while they were all settling back into their seats after the anthems.

Ivica Olic was chasing a hopeful ball towards the byline when he was clumsily and unnecessarily brought down by Rene Aufhauser, allowing Modric – who will join Tottenham next season after the London club paid Dinamo Zagreb £16.5 million for his services – to convert from the spot with four minutes on the clock.

The goal immediately settled the Croatians, whose neat-passing midfielders began coolly knocking the ball around. Mladen Petric, unmarked in the area, should have doubled the lead late in the half after a deep cross from Vedran Corluka but blasted wide.

Croatia, who finished above England in qualifying thanks in part to the ten goals of injured striker Eduardo, could have done with his finishing yesterday as their dominance failed to produce the killer second goal. They began to sit deeper and deeper after the break as Austria came out looking much more positive and began to swing in some dangerous crosses.

The introduction of Umit Korkmaz on the left for the last 20 minutes added further bite to their attacks and they built an impressive momentum.

Fellow substitute Roman Kienast was within inches of becoming a national hero in injury time when he somehow dragged himself free of the wrestled attentions of the visiting defence only for his glanced header to trickle wide.

Both teams can take something from the game but Croatia will have to be more positive when they face Germany on Thursday, while the Austrians can ill afford to lose to Poland.

Austria: Macho, Prodl, Stranzl, Pogatetz, Aufhauser, Saumel (Vastic 61), Standfest, Gercaliu (Korkmaz 69), Ivanschitz, Harnik, Linz (Kienast 73). Subs not used: Manninger, Ozcan, Katzer, Garics, Patocka, Hiden, Fuchs, Leitgeb, Hoffer. Booked: Pogatetz, Saumel, Prodl.

Croatia: Pletikosa, Corluka, R Kovac, Simunic, Pranjic, Srna, N Kovac, Modric, Kranjcar (Knezevic 61), Olic (Vukojevic 82), Petric (Budan 72). Subs not used: Galinovic, Runje, Simic, Vejic, Rakitic, Pokrivac, Leko, Kalinic, Klasnic. Booked: R Kovac.

from http://sport.scotsman.com/sport/Austria-01-Croatia-Croatia-off.4164071.jp