Headed for wrong direction: Turkey’s Kenan Yildiz colliding with Czech Republic’s Vladimir Coufal while going up for a header. — AP
HAMBURG: After a 3-0 loss to Portugal on Sunday put their hopes of qualifying from Group F in peril, Turkiye coach Vincenzo Montella faced a barrage of criticism.
On Wednesday, he found redemption as his side earned a tense 2-1 victory over the 10-man Czechs to reach the knockout phase of a major tournament for the first time since a run to the Euro 2008 semi-finals.
“We are always focused and hard-working, we deserve this qualification,” said Italian Montella. “We have suffered some criticism that was not deserved, and we overcame that.
“I’m used to pressure, I don’t mind it, but I don’t like when pressure is put on my players.”
The Crescent Stars have made it to the semi-finals on the last two occasions they reached the knockouts in major tournaments, after finishing third at the 2002 World Cup.
“Now we have new goals,” accepted Montella.
“Tonight we just want to celebrate, we deserve it, great sacrifice. But starting tomorrow, we want to continue to make history.”
Turkiye, who have been roared on by vociferous support in Germany, knew a draw would be enough against the Czechs in Hamburg to go through, but struggled to put the game to bed despite having a man advantage for more than 70 minutes after Antonin Barak was sent off.
Without the deafening support, Turkey might have buckled under the late pressure from a desperate Czech side seeking to salvage their tournament.
The Hamburg crowd would not let them, however, barracking the Czechs’ every touch and raising the roof when Turkey were in possession and on the attack. Support for most counties at the tournament in Germany has been impressive but the Turks took it up an extra notch and their players seemed to revel in it.
Hakan Calhanoglu gave them the lead before Tomas Soucek gave the Czech Republic hope of snatching the win they needed to knock Turkey out. But Cenk Tosun finally finished off the match with an injury-time winner on the counter-attack.
“We played well, we did not exploit one more man enough,” Montella said.
“When we took the lead, we conceded a goal... We’ve suffered pressure in the last few days and the team is very young.
“We could have suffered a bit less, but it makes our joy even greater.”
Turkiye will next face Austria in Leipzig on Tuesday for a place in the quarter-finals and will likely need similar backing in Leipzig. But with almost 3 million people with Turkish roots in Germany, the stadium should be packed to the rafters. — Agencies
