Bye!
That’s all from me. It’s been a blast. Don’t stop reading, though: here’s a match report from Jamie Jackson:
This was a cauldron of noise throughout and at the end a Turkey victory that delights Northern Ireland as it confirms they play in the Euro 2016 knockout stage in their debut appearance.
This is some achievement from Michael O’Neill’s team and, while they must wait until Wednesday night to know who their opponents will be, they will hardly care.
If I’m reading Uefa’s table correctly, if Turkey do make it through to the next round, they will play either Wales or France.
Updated
I’m far from sure that three points and goal difference of -2 will be enough to take Turkey through, but victory brings a degree of glory of its own.
So if the knock-out ties go with ranking (which they won’t, obviously, but still) it’s Italy v Spain, with the winners facing Germany and the winners of that game playing France (or England) in the semi-finals. Meanwhile Croatia are in the same half of the draw as Switzerland, Wales and the winners of Portugal’s group.
Updated
Final score: Czech Republic 0-2 Turkey
90+6 mins: It’s all over! The Czechs are out, Turkey finish third, and Northern Ireland are in the next round!
90+5 mins: Croatia have indeed beaten Spain 2-1, and Spain will play Italy in the next round.
90+4 mins: The clock is ticking, and Turkey are seeing their time out pretty comfortably. They win a free kick in their half, go down the other end, concede a free kick in the Czech half, and then win a free kick in their own half again. Stoppage time has been very stoppage heavy.
90+2 mins: Tosun is found on the edge of the area, middle of goal, but he shoots low, hard and wide.
90+1 mins: We’re into stoppage time, and there will be at least five minutes of it.
90 mins: A couple of late substitutions, one for each side: Daniel Kolar comes on for Plasil, and Borak Yilmaz comes off for Cenk Tosun.
87 mins: All change at the top of the group, meanwhile, as Croatia score an 88th-minute goal to go 2-1 up against Spain.
85 mins: Darida’s cross on the turn from the right nearly floats straight into goal, but Babacan tips over the bar.
83 mins: Oooh! A bit of penalty area ping-pong ends with Sahan bashing wide from eight yards! Goal difference is obviously going to be key in the third-place scrap, and another two would guarantee Turkey’s progress.
81 mins: Save! Vladimir Darida shoots left-footed from 20 yards, the ball flicking a defender’s boot, dipping, bouncing, and being pushed to safety by Babacan.
78 mins: The Czechs cross low and hard from the right, the ball skimming across the penalty area and out the other side. It is, though, a corner, from which the ball is headed wide.
77 mins: This is all fantastic news for Northern Ireland, who look all set to qualify for the next round as things stand.
75 mins: Turkey continue to look the most likely scorers. Gonul crosses from the right, with three attackers and three defenders in the penalty area, and Turan heads over the bar.
74 mins: The Czechs work a decent crossing chance on the right, and send the ball straight out of play.
72 mins: Spain have won and missed a penalty, and thus it is still Croatia 1-1 Spain in Group D’s other match.
70 mins: The Czechs have upped their tempo, and the number of first-time balls sent swirling into the mixer, immediately. They have also taken off Borek Dockal and brought on Josef Sural.
69 mins: Olcay Sahan has replaced Emre Mor for Turkey.
Updated
67 mins: So as it stands Turkey would be ahead of Albania in the table of third-place teams, but relying upon one of the last two groups providing another third-place team with a worse record.
GOAL! Czech Republic 0-2 Turkey (Tufan, 65 mins)
But the free kick leads directly to a second Turkish goal! It’s a fine delivery, which lands at the feet of Topal, with his back to goal. Unable to shoot himself he lays off to Tufan who, wide of goal on the right, flings his foot at the ball and sends it thundering between Cech and the near post!
Updated
64 mins: Arda Turan is played in, running through from the left flank, but just as the ball is played the referee blows his whistle and brings play back for a Turkey free kick. Bizarre officiating.
61 mins: Another shot for Babacan to field, Necid shooting low from 20 yards.
60 mins: Turkey take off Volkan Sen, and bring on Oguzhan Ozyakup, the Dutch-born former Arsenal youth-teamer.
59 mins: And at the other end the ball is laid back to the edge of the area where Darida sends in a low shot that Babacan saves and holds.
58 mins: Oooh! Mor picks up the ball on the right, bringing down a long pass and running at a two-man defence before hitting a left-foot shot from 20 yards that flies over the bar.
56 mins: The first substitution of the night sees Milan Skoda come on, and David Pavelka go off.
54 mins: Gonul is back on the pitch, both teams having half-decent attacks while he was of it. The Czechs’ ended with a cross miskicked into Babacan’’s hands, Turkey’s ended with a corner, from which nothing came.
Updated
51 mins: We have blood! The Czechs have a free-kick on the right, and as it’s taken Pavelka, Sivok and Gokhan Gonul run into each other, with the latter coming off worst when he’s accidentally headed in an eyebrow, leaving him with a nasty cut.
49 mins: Necid is basically a free-kick-winning machine. The latest, his second of the half already, comes when Hakan is fractionally late to challenge for a high ball, and Necid collapses and rolls around holding his head. Hakan will miss Turkey’s next game, if there is one, after being booked.
47 mins: A Turkish break looks very promising until Burak Yilmaz starts running just a moment too soon and is thus caught offside.
Peeeeeep!
46 mins: And we’re off! Again!
I’m still optimistic about this game. The first half featured one lovely goal, but its flow was too often interrupted by the referee’s whistle. Still, both sides need to score, which is always a promising starting point. The players are back out and readying themselves for what, for at least one of these teams, will be their final 45 minutes of this competition.
“Simon, before the game you mentioned that 4 points might see CZE through,” writes Michael in Frankfurt. “Should that read definitely, since there are already two 3rd-place teams on 3 points?” Aha, yes. That was written before today’s 5pm kick-offs.
Updated
Half time: Czech Republic 0-1 Turkey
Turkey take a lead into the break, but a 1-0 win would make them the worst third-place team so far. Both teams, in other words, still need goals.
45+1 mins: There will be one minute of stoppage time here. Meanwhile, it’s now Croatia 1-1 Spain, Kalinic scoring with a volleyed backheel – or sideheel, at least – flick.
45 mins: Kaderabek is found in acres of space on the right, but he hurries his cross and picks out only a defender.
44 mins: There have been a lot of fouls in this game. The last 20 minutes have been very whistle-heavy.
41 mins: A cross from the left. Necid can’t win the header, so he just barges into Babacan instead. A foul of frustration.
Updated
39 mins: And another booking, for David Pavelka, who slid across Inan after the ball had gone, though there didn’t seem to be a lot of contact.
Updated
38 mins: Save! Plasil bashes the ball goalwards from 25 yards, presenting Babacan with a chance to make a showy but straightforward diving tip-over.
Updated
36 mins: Another booking, this time for Jaroslav Plasil, for tripping Emre Mor. This means that only two players have been booked, and they both wear No13. Unlucky for some, etc.
34 mins: The game’s first booking, and Koybasi is the recipient, for forcing Kaderabek to the ground as he rampaged down the right again.
31 mins: Ooooh! A fine cross from the right for the Czechs comes to nothing, but it’s headed back into the six-yard box, flicked on by Necid and then turned wide by Kaderabek at the far post!
Updated
30 mins: The goal is Turkey’s only touch in the Czech penalty area thus far.
28 mins: Comedy tackle time, as Hakan Balta runs up to Tomas Necid from behind, and swings a foot between his legs and into his thigh for little obvious reason.
26 mins: A fine bit of trickery on the left from Ismael Koybasi keeps the ball, and moments later Volkan Sen has a 20-yarder that flies just wide, at great pace.
25 mins: More Czech pressure, as from the corner Tomas Necid shoots over the bar.
24 mins: Oooh! Kaderabek runs through from right back and has a clear sight of goal, albeit from a very acute angle. Babacan’s positioning is good, though, and he deflects the ball wide.
23 mins: Selcuk Inan thumps his free-kick into the wall.
21 mins: Turan prods a pass to Mor, who speeds past Kaderabek, checks back, skids, feels a gentle touch from Hubnik, falls over, wins a free kick and then rolls around a bit.
20 mins: Yilmaz goes down on the halfway line after being caught on the heel by a Czech boot, but the referee waves play on and Mor is played in, running from the right to the left of the penalty area. He shoots wide of the near post, and anyway the offside flag is unaccountably raised (one of Mor’s team-mates was certainly offside, but never got very close to the ball).
Updated
18 min: Darida executes a flying volley 20 yards from goal. A photograph of him doing it would look extremely handsome, but sadly video footage would have to include the ball flying way high.
16 mins: Czech Republic hit the post! From a corner on the right, Sivok wins the header amid a thicket of players at the back post, and that’s the post the ball hits before bouncing back into play, but to a defender!
14 mins: The ball’s played back a long way to Cech, who boots it straight out of play. This is all pleasingly manic.
12 mins: I’m not sure what Daniel Pudil was up to there – marooned upfield, presumably – as the left-back was nowhere to be seen as Turkey overloaded his flank, forcing (I think) Hubnik to close down Turan and leaving the defence hopelessly undermanned.
GOAL! Czech Republic 0-1 Turkey (Yilmaz, 10 mins)
That’s a lovely goal! Turan plays the ball down the right to Mor, who’s in all sorts of space, and he picks out Yilmaz at the near post, who half-volleys in!
Updated
8 mins: Turan tries to chip the ball over the Czech defence to Burak Yilmaz, who was probably offside. There was no flag, and Cech raced out to claim the ball.
7 mins: An early goal in tonight’s other game, as Spain take a seventh-minute lead against Croatia. Morata with the goal, created by David Silva’s super pass.
5 mins: Plasil falls over on the right wing, twists to play the ball back to a team-mate and ends up doing an awkward-looking turf-based half-somersault into touch.
3 mins: Yilmaz is fouled as he attempts to break, and though he wins the free-kick, he also gets a ticking off from the Scottish referee, William Collum, for being a bit mouthy.
Updated
1 min: And the Czechs are on the front foot from the get-go, winning a first-minute corner and, though nothing comes of it, keeping the ball afterwards.
Peeeeeep!
1 min: We’re off!
The Czech Republic are preparing to take the kick-off. We’re moments away from action now …
The players are out and anthems are being sung. “Just been doing some maths,” writes LeftPegger. “If Croatia lose tonight and Czech Republic win by the same scoreline they will be equal on points, goal difference, goals scored and goals conceded. These criteria apply after results between the two teams. In this case, they drew 2-2, so that settles nothing.
“Then it goes to fair play. In their first game, both sides received one yellow card, but when they faced each other, Croatia got three yellows to Czech Republic’s one, so as it stands, if those results happen, Czech take second spot on fair play so keep an eye on the card count tonight.
“It’s a point per yellow and three points for a red. It’s just three points for a red as a result of two yellows, rather than five points on a cumulative basis. I presume, though can’t say for sure, that a yellow followed by a straight red would be 4 points.
“If the card count somehow conspires to end on level terms, it goes to the Uefa coefficients. On that basis, Croatia would take 2nd spot as they are 12th, with the Czechs 15th.”
In other words, it’d be good if the Czechs to win by the same scoreline as Croatia lose, because it would make vaguely entertaining things happen.
Petr Cech takes over from the injured Tomas Rosicky as captain for the Czech Republic. He has some extra personal motivation, having blamed himself for his side’s defeat against Turkey in 2008.
Is this the scariest supporter at Euro 2016? Or, indeed, ever?
Also promising: the nine previous games between these nations have featured, on average, 3.4 goals each. Plus, the last and indeed only time they met in a European Championship finals it was an absolute stonker, Turkey coming back from two goals down to win, with two goals in the last three minutes of normal time. “I will not sleep for many nights after that,” said the Czech coach, Karel Bruckner, who retired immediately after the game.
Turkey and the Czech Republic also played each other in qualifying for this tournament, both sides winning away from home. The Czechs won that group, with the Turks in third.
Tonight’s teams
Czech Republic: Cech, Kaderabek, Sivok, Hubnik, Pudil, Pavelka, Darida, Plasil, Dockal, Necid, Krejci. Subs: Vaclik, Kadlec, Gebre Selassie, Limbersky, Rosicky, Skoda, Kolar, Suchy, Sural, Skalak, Lafata, Koubek.
Turkey: Babacan, Gonul, Topal, Balta, Koybasi, Mor, Tufan, Inan, Sen, Turan, Yilmaz. Subs: Kivrak, Kaya, Calik, Sahin, Calhanoglu, Tosun, Sahan, Ozyakup, Erkin, Malli, Ozbayrakli, Tekin.
Referee: Willie Collum (Scotland).
And here’s the official Uefa team sheet, for your records:
Hello world!
The bad news: Spain and Croatia are the two best teams in this group, and neither of them are playing in this game. The good news: only in Lens do both teams need to win to stand any kind of chance of going through. This, then, is where swashes will be buckled and holds unbarred. If this game doesn’t feature thrills, spills and excitement – or at the very least a goal or two – something’s gone very wrong.
With the four best third-place sides going through and two groups still undecided, we can’t know precisely where the axe will fall, but we can say with a fair degree of certainty that two points – which is what the best of these sides would have should they draw – won’t cut a whole lot of mustard. If pointless (I mean their team as yet has no points in this competition, not that the nation is without genuine purpose) Turkey win they’ll have three, which is very far from being a guarantee of survival, but if they prevail by at least two goals they will at least overtake Albania, currently the worst third-ranked team, on goals scored.
If the Czechs win, their final tally of four points will be enough to see them through. But they could also finish second, so long as Spain beat Croatia and a few other statistical criteria are met (Croatia would retain second place even in defeat so long as both Spain and the Czechs win by one goal but Croatia in defeat score more goals than the victorious Czech Republic, or if both games end 1-0 and Croatia have a better fair play record).
Talking of playing and records, how about some pre-match music? I have trawled through the hit parade – or, as it’s known in the Czech Republic, hitparáda – to find the kind of music that’s rocking Prague at the moment, and it turns out that Roxette are still enormously popular there! Their latest album, released earlier this month and already out of the UK charts having peaked at No61, is sitting pretty at No2. With Rick Astley, Paul McCartney, ELO, Paul Simon, Beverley Knight, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Stone Roses, Garbage, David Bowie and Red Hot Chili Peppers in the UK long-play top 20, these certainly are strange and nostalgic times.
It’s not just the presence of Roxette that makes the Czech charts a little confusing. For a start, they’ve got loads of them: a radio play chart, whose top Czech song was released a year ago, and a download chart, whose top Czech song doesn’t feature anywhere in the radio play top 100. So this is the closest I can come to consensus: No29 on radio play, No62 on downloads and featuring the band with the No6 album, plus a singalong chorus (though on the downside it appears to be a glorified advert for a music festival):
Meanwhile No1 in Turkey, so far as I can tell, is this:
Updated
Simon will be here soon enough. In the meantime, read Alec Luhn’s piece from Moscow, where the Russian communists have said some slightly unusual things:
Updated
.png?w=600)
