With courage and passion. Turkey won against Austria (2-1) this Tuesday evening in Leipzig in the round of 16 of the Euro. Above in the first half, Arda Güler’s teammates then closed ranks to hold on until the end. Merih Demiral scored twice from a corner, while Michael Gregoritsch scored the goal of hope for Austria. Not enough since it is the Turks who have a meeting in the quarterfinals against the Netherlands.
The match could be summed up in the first and last minutes of the encounter. Starting off at full speed, it only took a few seconds to see Merih Demiral (1st) cut a corner from Arda Güler (1-0, 1st) and already set Turkey off. 94 minutes later, Fehmi Günok pulled off a save from another planet, on his line, to deflect a header from Christoph Baumgartner that we could already see in the back of the net. The Turkish defender and goalkeeper are the symbol of a team that gave their all, to the point of finishing the game on their knees.
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Aggressive in recovery, intense in duels, Vincenzo Montella’s men took the game by the right end, despite the absence of its compass: the suspended Hakan Calhanoglu. Instead, the selection tightened around an ability to defend but also to project. But above all on a success worthy of the meeting, the one that allowed to score twice on three shots on target.
Austria Disappoints
As with the first goal, Turkey found the fault on a corner from Arda Güler. Not perfect in the animation but very accurate technically, the young Madrilenian showed his permeability to pressure. In particular by delivering a caviar this time for the head of Merih Demiral, just after having received cups from the stands (2-0, 59th). Enough to sink a team from Austria too uninspired.
Despite having possession (60% at the finish), the teammates of a disappointing Marcel Sabitzer chained together sterile sequences. And luck was not on their side, like an unfortunate Christoph Baumgartner on the last action, but also too short to deflect a corner (5th) and imprecise in receiving a cross from Stefan Posch (45th + 1).
The best player on the pitch for the Austrians was probably Michael Gregoritsch, but he was only able to contribute from his entry in the 46th minute. A goal 20 minutes later – again from a corner – and finally some interesting calls from the Freiburg striker. Not enough in the end for Das Team, who demonstrated once again that dominating was not enough.
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