PHOTO: Turkey Beat Croatia 4-2, Goes to Semi

The Croatian national team will play with the same players who faced Germany, while the Turks have made great changes.

Everything is ready for another row of historical matches for the Croatian national football team. Coach Slaven Bilic has made public his first 11 who will attempt to write history in the football annals. Croatia will play with the scheme 4-4-1-1 and the first eleven to enter the pitch will be Pletikosa, Danijel Pranjic, Josip Simunic, Robert Kovac, Vedran Corluka, Ivan Rakitic, Luka Modric, Niko Kovac, Darijo Srna, Niko Kranjcar and Ivica Olic. 

The Turkish trainer, Fatih Terim, on the eve of the game had problems with his formation, and eventually he decided to use: Rustu Recber, Hakan Balta, Emre Asik, Gokhan Zan, Hamit Altintop, Arda Turan, Mehmet Topal, Tuncay Sanli, Sabri Sarioglu, Nihat Kaveci and Kazim Kazim.

Today small skirmishes have been recorded in Vienna, but with great pleaser we can say that Croatia is present in great number once again. The referee is Italian Roberto Rosseti, with Griselli and Calcagno.

The national anthems are sung, Turkish supporters did not sing theirs at all, while the Croats were loud once again. There are about 30 thousand Croatian fans, 10 thousand Turks and 10 thousand from other nations.

Soon after the beginning of the match, Turkey tries a shot from the distance in the fifth minute which goals out near the goal. A minute later Croatia has an occasion but Srna was late on a rebounded ball.  

In the 13^th minute the Turks have another occasion from an indirect free kick 19 meters away. However, the goal is saved by midfielder Niko Kovac.

Shivers go down the Turks’ neck when twenty minutes after the beginning, Luka Modric crossed in the middle for Olic who slipped and hit the post. The rebounded ball was headed over the bar by Niko Kranjcar.

In the 27^th Turkey’s Tuncay receives the first yellow card. In case Turkey should qualify to the semis, the Turkish player will not be allowed to play.

The first half an hours showed us a heavy game with rare occasions to get near the goal from both sides.

In the 37^th minute, Tuacay is falls down in the area, but referee Rosseti decides not to assign a penalty kick to Turkey.

Bilic urges his players to press more in attack. But Olic is pretty isolated, and in the last minutes of the first half the games seems to have stalled. The first half finishes after two minutes of injury time and the result is still 0-0.  

At the beginning of the second half, Bilic tells Pokrivac and Leko to start warming up, and a bit later, Petric joined them.

A few minutes after, Arda Turan receives a yellow card and he too will miss the semis in Basel if Turkey qualifies.

The rhythm of the game is moderate, and in the 60^th minutes Ugur Boral substitutes Kazim Kazim in the Turkish ranks.

Two minutes later, Ivica Olic sends the ball in goal, but the referee annuls. Olic in fact was a meter offside. Mladen Petric enters instead of Niko Kranjcar for Slaven Bilic’s team.

In the 70^th, an excellent game between Olic and Rakitic ends up with a shot over the bar. A very good occasion, but a Turkish player deviated the rocket.

Two minutes later, again Rakitic assists Olic, but he heads the ball outside the goal.

Mehmet Topal is out, substituted by Semih Snturk for the Turks in the 76^th minute.

In the 83^rd minutes, Mladen Petric is knocked down about 25 meters form the goal. Dario Srna takes a shot… and what a shot. But the goal keeper saves the ball directed exactly in the corner of the goal on his left.

89^th minute, Ugur Boral gets a yellow card for knocking down Darijo Srna near the Turkish area.

In the last ten minutes of game, Croatia has good chances near the goal, but the second half ends at the 93^rd minutes. The results is still 0:0, and Croatia and Turkey will not continue their battle in the extra time.

In the extra time Bilic sends Ivica Olic to rest and substitutes him with Ivan Klasnic. 

In the first half of extra time, the Turkish team seems much better. They press forward and have dangerous occasions in front of the Croatian goal. Tuncay shoots near the end of the first 15 minutes, but the ball finishes slightly outside.

The Croatia fans burst in a song to cheer the players in the second half. The match goes on, but nothing changes. 

GOAL!!! Croatia’s Klasnic scores two minutes before the end of the 120 minutes. But… GOAL!!! The Turks return the result back to the same level with Croatia up to 1-1.

The two teams will have to face each other at the penalties.

Catastrophic penalties for Croatia. Modric misses the first shot, Srna scores. Pletikosa can not save any of the Turkish shots, while Rakitic misses the goal.  The Turkish goal keeper saves Petric's shot and Turkey flies to the Semis in Switzerland to face Germany.

See the PHOTO GALLERY of the match.