Euro 2008 Report: Switzerland 1-2 Turkey

The evening game yesterday saw the co-hosts Switzerland staring down the barrel of going out of their own tournament within the first five days.

The game started off in decent weather but soon a thunderstorm came and horrendous rain started hammering down on to the pitch. Very quickly the pitch was becoming poor and unfit for play but the game continued. Switzerland adapted to the conditions better than the Turkish side and took the lead mid-way through the half.

Hakan Yakin rolled the ball home after a low cross found him, what summed it up perfectly was the fact the ball stuck in the pitch right in front of the Swiss player who had a ball, stopped dead, two yards out from goal with the keeper out of action. It doesn't get too much easier than that.

The same player missed a glorious opportunity just a few minutes later as a cross found him in the centre of the goal six yards out, but he sliced the effort wide. The pitch at this time was clearly unfit for play and the game should've been either suspended or postponed. There can be no argument that the pitch was not dangerous but still we played on. It was becoming farcical and I was not enjoying it one jot.

Luckily for the referee and UEFA officials, the rain eased off towards the end of the first half and stopped completely during half time. The lengthy interval to allow the ground staff to do their job was called for and Turkey needed the time to sort out how they were going to come back. They decided to make two changes and one of them was to come good sooner rather than later.

Semih Senturk headed home the equaliser although the Swiss keeper should've done a lot better. It was game on and now that the pitch had dried out a little bit, the ball was rolling well and the game was becoming rather entertaining.

It was end to end stuff and both teams were creating chances to win it. However we got into injury time and we were still tied up. Then the Turks got the ball on the break, Arda got the ball down the left flank and charged forward, he came inside and hit a shot, the ball clipped off the foot of Behrami and the keeper could do nothing as the ball looped over him and settled in the back of the net.

Turkey have set up a winner takes all clash with the Czech Republic on Sunday and the co-hosts are done. Turkey looked like a decent side and the Czech's were a lot better in defeat against the Portuguese than they were in victory against the Swiss. That should be a good game.