Turkey take second after Barak red hurts Czechs

Turkey scraped through to face Austria in a quintessential battle of the dark horses but they will have to buck their ideas up when the knockouts arrive.

- Nick Ames

They should have seen the evening out in comfort after Czech Republic's Antonin Barak was sent off for two yellow cards midway through the first half, and seemed certain to do so when Hakan Calhanoglu finished superbly after half-time. But they seem incapable of achieving anything the easy way and listed horribly after Tomas Soucek gave their spirited opposition a lifeline. Cenk Tosun settled their nerves near the end and the battling Czechs bow out.

The Czech Republic had known at the outset that only a win would do. All the pre-match equations over how the third-place shakedown would shape the tournament were luxuries for others; Ivan Hasek's players had a job to do and would have to perform most of it without Patrik Schick, their obvious attacking star, who had limped off soon after equalising against Georgia.

Would they go for it against a Turkey side that crackles with an intensity fired by a deafening support? Under a low sun they flew from the blocks, causing flutters via a Vladimir Coufal long throw before Lukas Provod's deflected strike drew a fullstretch save from Mert Gunok.