Jun
20
Euro 2008 quarter-final preview: Croatia and Turkey clash for a ticket to the semi-finals
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So far, both Croatia and Turkey have been impressive in their efforts to qualify for the quarter-finals. Croatia comfortably finished first in Group B while Turkey surprised their opponents winning two games in the dieing minutes and finishing second in Group A. The two teams will play tonight for a semi-finals tickets and a date with Germany who stunned Portugal yesterday. This is our preview of the second game in the quarter-finals of the 2008 European Championships.
Turkey managed to turn two games in the group stage from guaranteed losses to victories to earn the right to be here tonight. To recap, Turkey scored in injury time to defeat Switzerland in their second game of the competition and then repeated the same in the third game by scoring 2 goals in the last 5 minutes of the game against the Czech Republic to turn a 2-1 decision against them to a 3-2 decision for them. An excellent game for the Turkish team who unfortunately came out of it injured and loaded with yellow cards. As a result, a considerable number of key players will be missing from the line-up tonight reducing Turkey’s chances for a positive results. But they have shown to have lots of grit and passion for victory, so I don’t expect them to be easy prey for Croatia.
Croatia topped Group B with ease. In fact, even the second team had no problem of playing a high-level of soccer in their match and defeat of Poland in their last game. Interestingly, this is the first time Croatia makes it past the group stage in a European Championships although they did finish third during the 1998 World Cup. Croatia were not expected to go far in this tournament and yet they have shown that they can play soccer as well as the favorites. They won’t take Turkey lightly considering that they have already seen what happens if they don’t play to win for the full 90 minutes. Croatia are the favorite to win this game and considering the many injuries and suspensions that have hit Turkey, they won’t have a problem living up to expectations. This one should be a 3-1 decision for Croatia.