What a difference a few minutes make? Croatia had been pressing Turkey had throughout the second half but seemed to go to sleep once Extra Time kicked off. Turkey put the Croatian goal under a lot of pressure and with one minute left of Extra Time at the end of the game, the Turkish goalkeeper Rushtu chased a ball which had been played across his goal (similar to the Greek goalkeeper in game 15 against Russia). The ball was chipped back over his head and despite his best endeavours a header was crashed into his goal. Cue manic celebrations involving all of the Croatian players, substitutes and officials. Manager Slaven Bilic was almost in the Turkish penalty area!
Turkey pressed forward and when one of their attacks was broken up, the ball was played long for two Croatian attackers to chase. They were probably only 5-6 yards inside the half that Turkey were defending but with Turkey pushing up, they were adjudged offside. The free kick was played forward by Rushtu and when it wasn't cleared, the minimum of one minute of Added Time signalled by the Fourth Official had expired. The referee allowed play to continue for another 6-7 seconds and a fierce drive beat the defender and goalkeeper to take the score to 1-1 and the game was over.
So the game went to kicks from the penalty mark to decide the result. They went like this
- Croatia N Y N N
- Turkey Y Y Y
Croatia missed their first and third kicks and their fourth was saved by Rushtu. He seemed to try to get to the player whose kick he saved but was swamped by his celebrating team mates. It was nice to see that while his team mates were gathered in front of their own supporters celebrating, he was going around consoling the Croatian players - a nice touch. Turkey will now meet Germany in the semi final next Wednesday!
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