Elias4’s Weblog

Penalties looked set to decide the destiny of the game when Ivan Klasnic made the most of a moment of madness from Recber Rustu with just three minutes of injury time remaining.

However, Semih Senturk converted with the final touch of the game to take it to penalties nonetheless.

Croatia never quite recovered from the blow as Ivan Rakitic and Luka Modric missed, and Rustu rounded it up with a fabulous save to send Turkey into the semi-final against Germany on Wednesday.

Neither side had ever faced a competitive penalty shootout before and the tension was palpable.

Luka Modric was to be first to try his luck, but fired his kick wide to the right. For the Turks, Arda Turan, the Galatasaray winger, then fired through Pletikosa to edge his side into a decisive lead.

Darijo Srna gave Croatia a hope to cling to with a well executed kick. The goalscorer, Semih Semturk was next up and made no mistake with a confident effort.

20-year-old Ivan Rakitic, who had hitherto enchanced his reputation at the tournament, then stroked his effort wide as the game slipped from Croatia’s grasp.

Hamit Altintop made it three from three for Fatih Terim’s side with a penalty that exuded coolness. Mladen Petric had to score to keep his side in the tie, but was denied by Rustu Recber.

The veteran atonted for his baffling extra-time error to put Turkey into the last four against Germany. Slaven Bilic will rue the inability of his two brightest charges to hit the target from twelve yards.

For Terim, his side take their place in the semi finals, despite leading matches in the tournament for a grand total of two minutes.

Line Ups:

Croatia (4-5-1): Pletikosa – Corluka, R Kovac, Simunic, Pranjic – N Kovac, Srna, Rakitic, Kranjcar (Petric 65’), Modric – Olic (Klasnic 101’). Subs not used: Galinovic, Runje, Simic, Vejic, Pokrivac, Knezevic, Vukojevic, Leko, Kalinic, Budan.

Turkey (4-4-2): Rustu – Sabri, Emre Asik, Gokhan Zan, Hakan Balta – Mehmet Topal (Senturk 76’), Arda Turan, Hamit Altintop, Tuncay – Nihat (Gokdeniz 117’), Kazim-Kazim (Ugur Boral 61’). Subs not used: Tolga Zengin, Servet Cetin, Gungor, Tumer Metin, Emre Belozoglu, Akman, Senturk.

Goals:

Croatia: Klasnic 118′

Turkey: Semih Semturk 120′

Booked:

Croatia:

Turkey: Tuncay, 27’, Arda Turan 49’, Ugur Boral, 89’, Emre Asik, 106’

Referee:

Roberto Rossetti (ITA)

Peter Staunton

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