Game 5: Turkey vs Croatia

I think the Caf may have jinxed it for Turkey here by continuously expecting Turkey to get a late equaliser in this game.
 
Jaysus, Croatia should be high and dry by now.

Great game, this, actually every game has been good so far. Hopefully it continues.
 
Of course Croatia miss all these chances when I've got a 3-0 bet on. Should be at least 5 by now.
 
This Mor kid has been great. Is he a known talent or is he surprising everyone too?
 
We've been so shit how did we beat the Dutch 3-0 and now look like we don't know how to play football, let alone score a goal :wenger:
 
There is some potential there with Emre Mor. Good close control and dribbling.
 
Calhanoglu has become more anonymous as time has passed. He's pretty much nonexistent now.
 
AS18_ said:
This Mor kid has been great. Is he a known talent or is he surprising everyone too?
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One of the biggest talents of his age group. Liverpool tried their hardest to sign the lad and we payed quite a lot to get him before the EURO.
 
Turkey have no clue. Just give it to Mor! At least he makes something happen, running at defenders.
 
I don't know good Turkey are supposed to be but Croatia have looked really impressive. A lot better than the pessimistic vibes @Ban gave off. ;)
 
Really impressed with Croatia, they could go far in this tournament. They really should've had the game won much earlier though.
 
Welp, as much as most expect Turkey to somehow miraculously get past the group stages, I'll say that Turkey have no chance of getting out of the group stages. They look like they lack the experience of playing in international tournaments as perfectly highlighted by Calhanoglu and how poor he's been.
 
How good was really Croatia? They looked great I think, with nice movement and passing to create 4-5 massive chances. In addition they have the X-factor of Modric, which is just a subliminal midfielder.

The question remains - how easy did Turkey make it? They looked piss-poor both on and off possession. Gonna bomb out of this group with that kind of performance again
 
Really good game from Croatia. Just missing Mandzukic in clinical form.

That Modric and Rakatic pairing in midfield is fantastic. As is the ball retention of the whole team. They all look comfortable on the ball and play really well in tight situations.

Its also great that they have actual wingers. Brozovic and Perisic run at their men and cause lots of problems.

It will be good to see how the team cope when they play a big side like Germany, Spain etc who will probably have the majority of the ball.
 
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Turkey was crap honestly and made us look good. We were a one trick pony with the crosses and still needed a wonder goal to win. We rely on individual quality to make something out of nothing, no discernible tactics or game plans. Subs were used for time wasting.

But feck negativity after an opening win, the 3 points are all that matters. Guys tried hard, especially second half. Fully deserved win.
 
Dissapointing game from my point of view. Shame we had to wait this long to play at a tournament again and then give such a shit display. Can't really see us get anything against Spain even if we drastically improve.
 
Good start from Croatia, played some great football. There was always the worry when the second goal wouldn't come that Turkey might snatch a draw, but they didn't threaten much at all. Modric and Rakitic were both outstanding, but it was a great team performance. If Croatia beat the Czechs, that means they will go into the Spain game - the toughest one on the face of it - in a very strong position, possibly already qualified.
 
ZAGREB RED said:
Good start from Croatia, played some great football. There was always the worry when the second goal wouldn't come that Turkey might snatch a draw, but they didn't threaten much at all. Modric and Rakitic were both outstanding, but it was a great team performance. If Croatia beat the Czechs, that means they will go into the Spain game - the toughest one on the face of it - in a very strong position, possibly already qualified.
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There's absolutely no chance of them not being qualified with 6 points. In an extremely theoretical point of view it could happen (say all groups finishing with three teams on 6 points and one on zero), not in the real world. And that's only possible at the moment because there have been no draws in the tournament (edit: whoo, wrong, forgot about Russia's goal). Remember only the two worst 3rd placed teams will fail to qualify, and these are likely to be on 1 or 2 points.
 
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Arruda said:
There's absolutely no chance of them not being qualified with 6 points. In an extremely theoretical point of view it could happen (say all groups finishing with three teams on 6 points and one on zero), not in the real world. And that's only possible at the moment because there have been no draws in the tournament. Remember only the two worst 3rd placed teams will fail to qualify, and these are likely to be on 1 or 2 points.
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Yes, that's what I meant, in theory a win over the Czechs doesn't mean they are through, but in reality it does. I think the only real debate in the group is who finishes 1st and 2nd from Croatia/Spain.
 
I think by the time teams get their second win it will already mean automatic qualification. All you need is a couple of draws from here until then.
 
Well dammit I got excited for a sec there thinking United would look into this kid. Too slow I guess :(
 
Were there any reports of Turkish fans being violent today? I will be in Nice when they play Spain next week, so good to know which fans to avoid...
 
DWelbz19 said:
I don't know good Turkey are supposed to be but Croatia have looked really impressive. A lot better than the pessimistic vibes @Ban gave off. ;)
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It's just all the stuff around the team with which I won't bother you.

We had a very good game and deservedly won. In the first half he puffed and huffed but didn't have clear chances. Than Luka's shot happened. What a goal, what a šljuca. It's stuff from playgrounds, when ball so sweetly falls on your leg.
In 2nd half other than a blocked shot Turkey didn't show anything, we pressed them all over and could have added few more. 2 posts and 3 or 4 good chances.
Luka was immense, just immense, proper star as it should be. Brozović was very good too I thought. So was Srna. Perišić too.
What about Ćorluka, he lost blood about 3 times. :D Proper warrior. :D
Turkey was really poor so there's yet to be seen how good we really are against stronger oponnents. Despite the win I still think there's room for improvements in our game.
I think we should win vs Czechs.

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Come on, one by one. I'll beat you like cats.
 
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First games are always the toughest. This one will bring some momentum for the boys who surely could use it on Czechs.

Turks didnt have precision and speed to move forward. Also our defence did pull a high pressure on the pitch. Our weak link was left side today. Im still confused how Terim didnt use that advantage. Strinic wasnt doing good either defence(not enough pressure or strength) or flybys on left wing. Perisic didnt shine in this game, but Im sure he will when Spain comes. MOTM goes to Luka no doubt even without his shot, that commitement, leadership it was brilliant. Also Srna was having great game. Corner kicks were very accurate, many movements on right side.

All in all performance was great, finishing not so much.
 
Turkey player probably could’ve blocked Modric’s shot but decided to fix his hair first.

 
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