The Turks are truly incredible. No other team has come from behind to win a match at this Euro; the Turks have done it three times. Three times! Unbelievable. This time, Klasnic had surely put the Turks away in the 119th minute. Seconds remained; there was some uncertainty as to whether the ref would call the game while Rustu's clearance was still in the air. As it was, play continued long enough for Semih to finagle control of the ball in the box and launch it past an outstretched Pletikosa into the top corner. All of a sudden, Turkey had a lifeline and ancient reserve keeper Rustu came up huge in the penalty shootout to see them through to the semifinals against Germany.
Some assorted points:
-Tuncay, Arda, and Emre Asik all received their second yellow cards and will be out for the semifinal. Tuncay and Arda have been the creators of most of the Turkish chances so far this tournament and Asik is a starting center back. Starting keeper Volkan is still suspended from his red card against the Czech Republic. Emre Gungor, Emre Belozoglu, Tumet Metin, and Servet Cetin are all dealing with injury problems as well. Of that group, only Servet seems like a possibility to return. Additionally, Nihat came off injured at the end of the match. In Turkey's worst case scenario, where none of these nine guys play, the Turks are down to 14 men. Now consider that one of those 14 is the third-string goalkeeper, and two of them are yet to appear in this tournament, and you understand just how thin this Turkish squad is going into the semifinal.
-What a tournament it has been for Barcelona cast-offs. First, Gio van Bronckhorst dazzles for the Netherlands, and now Rustu has a tremendous game for Turkey. Ricardo Quaresma also had some excellent runs of play for Portugal when given the chance. Consider that each of these players was deemed dead weight for Barcelona at some point in their careers and was released by the Catalan giants without even an afterthought. Also consider that if Spain are to lose to Italy (with recent Barcelona cast-off Gianluca Zambrotta in their starting lineup) this weekend, no players on the Barcelona roster will still be left in the Euro semifinal.
-There are more than 2.5 million Turks currently living in Germany, making up approximately 3% of the entire German population. Many of these Turks are guest workers forced to take the jobs that Germans won't take for a fraction of the pay and with little hope of the benefits of citizenship in sight. While Germany-Turkey may not be such a familiar matchup for fans of European football, it certainly is familiar on the playgrounds of Frankfurt and Stuttgart. Turks all over the world would celebrate a semifinal victory euphorically, but it would mean something a little extra special to those 2.5 million and their families back at home. Also of note, two of the Turkish players expected to play a big role in the semifinal, Hamit Altintop and Hakan Balta, were born in Germany.
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