The Turkish national team is the last quarterfinalist of Euro 2024! Turkey secured a place among the top eight after defeating Austria 2-1 at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig.
Both goals for the Vincenzo Montella-led team were scored by Merih Demiral, who opened the scoring before 60 seconds had even passed. The center-back doubled Turkey’s lead in the 59th minute. Michael Gregoritsch gave the Austrians hope with his goal in the 66th minute, but no further goals were scored for the rest of the match.
Turkey took the lead before 60 seconds had even elapsed. The Austrian team made a serious mistake from a corner kick, resulting in chaos in the penalty area and Rangnick’s players unable to clear the ball. Merih Demiral took advantage of this, sending the ball into the net of Patrick Pentz.
Two chances followed for Austria before the 5th minute. First, in the 3rd minute, Christoph Baumgartner shot diagonally from distance, his effort passing dangerously close to the opponent’s goal.
Shortly afterwards, it was almost a miracle that the ball didn’t go into Mert Günok’s goal. A cross was whipped across the goal line and in the ensuing chaos, Baumgartner couldn’t get to the ball, which was eventually cleared after a few ricochets.
In the 25th minute, Demiral was not far from a second goal. He headed a corner over the bar.
The pace slowed down a bit and scoring opportunities became increasingly rare, so Turkey went into the break with a narrow 1-0 lead.
The second half started strongly for Ralf Rangnick’s team. In the 47th minute, Christoph Baumgartner broke through from the right and found Michael Gregoritsch unmarked with a pass. He immediately shot low, but inaccurately.
Four minutes later, Marko Arnautovic was played through a ball between the Turkish defenders, and the striker was left one-on-one with Mert Günok. The Turkish goalkeeper came out quickly and managed to save Arnautovic’s shot.
And so, the 59th minute arrived and the second goal for Turkish center-back Merih Demiral. He got to a corner kick and headed the ball into the Austrian goal.
In the 68th minute, the Austrians got back into the game. From a corner kick, Posch headed the ball towards the unmarked Michael Gregoritsch at the far post. He made no mistake and reduced his team’s deficit.
Austria had a few more good chances, but they were unable to equalize. In the 84th minute, Baumgartner managed to outjump a Turkish defender and head the ball, but it went just over the bar.
In stoppage time, Austria came very close to an equalizer, but Mert Günok made a wonderful save, denying a header from Christoph Baumgartner, and so Turkey held on to their lead and qualified for the next phase.
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