Turkey Reaches Euro 2024 Knockout Round, Eliminates Czech Republic with 2-1 Win

Turkey secured a spot in the knockout stage of the European Championship with a dramatic 2-1 victory over a 10-man Czech Republic on Wednesday, thanks to Cenk Tosun’s stoppage-time goal.

Tosun, a substitute, managed to evade two defenders on the left and fired a fierce shot inside the far post, sealing Turkey’s progression. “This is just the start,” Tosun said. “I’m delighted with my goal. We spoke about it beforehand, how this is exactly the time for it.”

The goal led to a celebration among Turkish fans at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion, but also sparked a flare-up on the field. Czech forward Tomas Chory was shown a red card, and team captain Tomas Soucek along with Turkey’s Arda Guler received yellow cards.

Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs had a busy night, issuing 18 yellow cards and sending off Czech midfielder Antonin Barak in the 20th minute. Barak received his first yellow card for a tactical foul in the 11th minute and the second for a stamp on Salih Ozcan’s foot. “I only saw him in the break,” Czech coach Ivan Hasek said of Barak. “He was sad, with his head in his hands. He really punished himself by beating himself up about it.”

Turkey capitalized on their numerical advantage, with Kenan Yildiz, Hakan Calhanoglu, and Guler putting pressure on the Czech defense. The Czech attack missed star player Patrik Schick, who was sidelined with a calf muscle injury. Schick was booked for protesting from the bench, his only contribution to the match.

Yildiz received a yellow card for a stamp on Robin Hranac in the 37th minute and narrowly escaped another booking after catching Vladimir Coufal in the face with his elbow, an incident missed by the referee.

Calhanoglu opened the scoring in the 51st minute with a low shot inside the far post. Czech goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek made a brilliant save to deny Mert Muldur but couldn’t reach Calhanoglu’s powerful strike. Stanek was later replaced by Bayer Leverkusen reserve goalkeeper Matej Kovar due to an apparent shoulder injury from his initial save.

Soucek equalized for the Czechs in the 66th minute after a goalmouth scramble. A VAR check confirmed that goalkeeper Mert Gunok was not unfairly hindered.

With the Czechs needing another goal to advance, Tosun’s late strike dashed their hopes. “It’s disappointment. We all wanted to advance. We had a goal to beat them from the start but we didn’t make it, that’s disappointing,” Soucek told the Czech public broadcaster. He added, “It’s very tough to play with a player less and I rue the goals we conceded. We all did the maximum. I have to thank all my teammates. It’s just a sad end.”

The Czech Republic finished at the bottom of Group F, behind Georgia, which surprised group winner Portugal with a 2-0 win to progress as one of the best third-place teams. Turkey finished as runner-up with six points and will face Austria in Leipzig on Tuesday.