Fun with Turkey
Amazing scenes in Vienna last night. A game as tense as you’ll see, exhausting to watch, let alone play in, was won by the team who had just come back from the dead again.
I watch these things and wonder how Martin O’Neill feels. He’s a very bright man (he trained as a lawyer I think) and too often in these championships he’s been sitting on the end of the sofa trying to give an intelligent counter-argument to one of Alan Shearer’s half-baked non-ideas. O’Neill’s not a man who delights in brevity, so doesn’t always get his point across without Gary Lineker trying to change the subject, but he’s a valuable addition to the usual dry panel. Lee Dixon and Gavin Peacock could take things to another level, but presumably aren’t quite famous enough.
Last night it seemed to work though. Shearer and Hansen started by slating the Turks for ‘being negative’, but O’Neill piped up and praised them. They were without a number of their players, they are less technically gifted, but here they are hanging in there - again. O’Neill was full of admiration for the Turkey team, and as the game wore on Shearer seemed to see this perspective.
Great stuff though. I love these Turkish players. They’re getting lucky break after lucky break - you don’t win three games in the last minute through courage alone - but why not? They’re giving it everything, and it’s thrilling to see. Last night’s game might not have showcased the most open football you’ll see, but almost 120 minutes of deadlocked knockout football, well, I’ll take that. I find this sort of “who blinks first” football pretty wonderful, and don’t expect to enjoy Spain v Italy nearly as much.
Really enjoyed the game. Croatia are “my” team this year so disappointed they lost but huge credit to Turkey for keeping it so tight and then still having the strength to come back when they seemed dead and buried.
Hansen doesn’t seem to say anything interesting anymore and Shearer is a complete waste of time. I totally agree about O’Neil, Dixon & Peacock. I think the general state of BBC coverage is shocking at the moment - doubt there’s any impetous to change things though.
Chopper
21 Jun 08 at 10:46 am
I agree - what is the point of Alan Shearer? It’s just like when they used to have Schmeichel - big name, but nothing to say. In terms of improving the BBC coverage, Motson is past it too. I quite like Jonathan Pearce (seemed to be a fan of Roy and our great escape during the end of the season too) and reckon he would be a decent replacement.
Can’t wait for Holland v Russia - my two tips so I don’t mind who wins, and hopefully they’ll produce a great game of attacking football. How fab were Russia the other day?
In other news - just noticed we’re playing Torino - a decent test the week before Hull and should be interesting to watch as I imagine Roy will play his imagined first team by that point. Looking forward to it.
JamieR
21 Jun 08 at 12:12 pm
Very disappointing. Croatia was also my team. No superstars but just a very solid team that believed in themselves and worked hard. Bilic being the key factor on that team. A manager that I think you will see in the prem within the next year. A great game but not sure Turkey deserved to win after all the great chances Croatia created during the game. But that’s why they actually play the game. Luck or not, Turkey persevered. But let’s not forget Croatia’s fantastic win over Germany. Turkey’s back up keeper was the player of the game, do doubt.
So now I’m in it for Holland.
bqfootball
21 Jun 08 at 2:07 pm
It was exciting stuff. I knew that Turkey’s late goal had rattled Croatia, but to have two PK’s not even hit the target was incredible, I don’t remember ever seeing that happen. I mean, Modric was Croatia’s best PK taker and he misses wide! I’m always amazed to see professionals get that rattled, it’s just reiterates how much pressure there is in these matches.
You hear many commentators complain about penalties, but I personally love the drama of them.
George H
21 Jun 08 at 3:21 pm
Turkey’s unbelievable run will end on Wednesday night - even tough I’m starting to enjoy their celebrations in the streets of German cities. It’s little Istanbul here!
Yeboah
21 Jun 08 at 6:03 pm