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As Cenk Tosun completed off a seven-on-four counter-attack in harm time, the Turkey bench had been off their seats to have fun a 2-1 victory that sealed their qualification for the knockout levels.
It was chaotic stuff, and but that was solely the beginning of it. Within the madcap aftermath, Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs handed out 5 bookings, extending the report set 20 minutes earlier for probably the most playing cards awarded in a single recreation at a European Championship.
Of the 18 playing cards proven, 16 had been yellows and two had been reds. Most curiously, 5 of the 18 got to gamers who weren’t even on the sector of play.
It was, by a distance, the dirtiest recreation in Euros historical past. So what occurred?
The sport began effectively for the Czech Republic, who had been disturbing Turkey’s superior midfield technicians with a man-to-man urgent system.
Then got here a setback: an Eleventh-minute yellow card for Antonin Barak. Kovacs accurately punished the Fiorentina midfielder for dragging down left-back Ferdi Kadioglu.
That ought to have been the cue for Barak to play it protected for the remainder of the sport by avoiding dangerous tackles, however the 29-year-old was having none of it.
Within the twentieth minute, after taking a sensible contact away from the problem of Ismail Yuksek, Barak was rapidly converged upon by two Turkey midfielders close to the midway line.
With the ball getting away from him and Hakan Calhanoglu closing quick, Barak caught out his left foot in a determined try and take it earlier than Salih Ozcan.
Ozcan gained the race and Barak stood on his foot, leaving him in a heap. After initially handing benefit to Turkey, Kovacs pulled play again for a foul and gave Barak his second yellow — the earliest sending-off in Euro’s historical past, beating the report held by former France defender Eric Abidal (24 minutes towards Italy at Euro 2008).
The choice cut up pundits and commentators, with Andros Townsend on UK broadcaster ITV believing he had been harshly handled.
“This one was much more baffling. He’s in possession of the ball; he faucets it away,” mentioned Townsend. “It’s his follow-through that catches the Turkish participant. You possibly can all the time gradual it down and freeze-frame it, however finally, he’s in possession of the ball.”
Both means, a participant of Barak’s expertise ought to know to not take dangers in midfield in a must-win recreation having already been booked.
After Ozcan was booked within the thirty first minute, the subsequent card went to Czech striker Patrik Schick, who was not even on the pitch. The Bayer Leverkusen participant was awarded a yellow for dissent and would have missed the Czech Republic’s last-16 recreation if that they had certified given he had picked up a yellow earlier within the match.
Schick, who’s the Czech Republic’s all-time main scorer on the Euros, was cautioned after he was seen forcefully pleading the case that Ismail Yuksek ought to have been booked for a forceful problem on Lukas Provod, who was left writhing on the ground.
Yuksek gained the ball pretty cleanly, however given the contentious nature of Barak’s second yellow, he may need had a degree.
A couple of minutes later, Juventus winger Kenan Yildiz acquired Turkey’s second yellow card of the night time. After beating West Ham full-back Vladimir Coufal, Yildiz misplaced the ball to centre-back Robin Hranac. Yildiz left a tasty problem on Hranac, who rolled round moderately dramatically.
Had the referee not awarded Yildiz a yellow, there may need been a mutiny within the Czech dugout.
In between that call and the true drama which came about after the ultimate whistle, there have been yellow playing cards handed out to Calhanoglu, who scored Turkey’s good opener within the 51st minute, Mert Muldur, Vitezslav Jaros, Lukas Cerv and backup goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir, who will miss Turkey’s round-of-16 tie towards Austria subsequent Tuesday.
By the point stoppage time started on the finish of the sport, the Euros report for playing cards in a recreation had already been comfortably eclipsed (14 yellows and one pink, beating the earlier excessive of 10). However after Tosun grabbed the winner, the drama actually started.
With the Czech Republic on their means dwelling, Turkey’s exuberant celebrations on the closing whistle proved an excessive amount of for a lot of of their gamers. West Ham’s Tomas Soucek was the primary to take exception to Orkun Kokcu fist-pumping in the course of the pitch.
Shortly after, gamers and coaches from the sidelines ran onto the sector to affix a scuffle that was breaking out close to the midway line.
A pink card — the Czech Republic’s second of the night time — was then proven to Viktoria Plzen striker Tomas Chory, who had grow to be concerned in a bodily tussle with Mert Gunok, Turkey’s No 1 goalkeeper.
Because the referee struggled to maintain management, he handed out yellow playing cards to Soucek and Arda Guler, Turkey’s wonderkid attacker who scored six objectives in 10 league appearances for Actual Madrid final season.
From a soccer perspective, this recreation was in all probability of little consequence. However because of its superb lawlessness, particularly within the dying moments, it now occupies a particular place in Euro historical past.
(Prime photograph: Christophe Simon/AFP by way of Getty Photos)