Turkey U21 side have continued their bid for UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification after a 3-0 victory over Liechtenstein at Adana 5 Ocak stadium.
The win lifted unbeaten Turkey up to second place in Group 2 table within one point of leaders Czech Republic with three games left to their rivals' two. Should Turkey prevail in Armenia on 20 August, victory three weeks later at home to the Czech Republic would ensure Ümit Davala's side a place in the play-offs as group winners.
Fenerbahçe striker İlhan Parlak opened the scoring account for Turkey against Liechtenstein before Nuri Şahin and Zafer Yelen added further goals.
"We were thinking it would be hard before the game but we performed well. Our team played much better in the second 45 minutes and created so many chances." Turkey Under-21 coach Ümit Davala commentedd after the game.
Talking about the game, Turkey U-21 captain Nuri Şahin said: "We had to win the game, and after scoring we became more comfortable," while İlhan Parlak added: "We were unable to play in our usual style for the first 30 minutes because of our opponents' defensive mentality but after we scored we reverted to type."
Stadium: Adana 5 Ocak
Referees: Akmalkhan Kaolmatov, Bagytpe Kopzhassarov, Serik Zhappasbayev
Turkey: Ufuk, Durmuş (66 Emre), Alparslan, Aykut, Eren, Volkan, Özer, Zafer (87 Barış), Mehmet (65 Adem), Nuri, İlhan
Liechtenstein: Cengiz Biçer, Vögeli, John Beck, Ritz Berger, Bühler, Martin Büchel, Dominic Spalt (80 Oliver Spalt), Mathias Christen (86 Seyhan Yıldız), Andreas Christen, Stephan Büchel, Marc Batliner (75 Vogt)
Goals: 45 İlhan, 58 Nuri, 85 Zafer (Turkey)
Yellow Cards: 46 Aykut (Turkey), 6 Ritz Berger, 21 Stephan Büchel (Liechtenstein)
Teams |
Pld |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
Pts |
1. CZECH REPUBLIC |
6 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
19 |
2 |
14 |
2. TURKEY |
5 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
11 |
4 |
13 |
3. UKRAINE |
7 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
15 |
7 |
12 |
4. ARMENIA |
6 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
6 |
11 |
7 |
5. LİECHTENSTEİN |
8 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
4 |
31 |
0 |
Date |
Home |
Score |
Away |
31.05.2007 |
Armenia |
1 - 0 |
Liechtenstein |
01.06.2007 |
Ukraine |
1 - 2 |
TURKEY |
06.06.2007 |
Ukraine |
4 - 0 |
Armenia |
08.09.2007 |
Armenia |
1 - 1 |
Czech Republic |
08.09.2007 |
Liechtenstein |
2 - 3 |
TURKEY |
11.09.2007 |
Czech Republic |
8 - 0 |
Liechtenstein |
12.09.2007 |
Armenia |
0 - 2 |
Ukraine |
14.10.2007 |
Liechtenstein |
0 - 4 |
Czech Republic |
14.10.2007 |
TURKEY |
2 - 0 |
Ukraine |
17.10.2007 |
Liechtenstein |
1 - 3 |
Ukraine |
17.10.2007 |
Czech Republic |
3 - 0 |
Armenia |
17.11.2007 |
Czech Republic |
1 - 1 |
TURKEY |
17.11.2007 |
Ukraine |
5 - 0 |
Liechtenstein |
20.11.2007 |
Liechtenstein |
1 - 4 |
Armenia |
21.11.2007 |
Ukraine |
0 - 2 |
Czech Republic |
26.03.2008 |
TURKEY |
3 - 0 |
Liechtenstein |
20.08.2008 |
Armenia |
- |
TURKEY |
06.09.2008 |
TÜRKİYE |
- |
Czech Republic |
10.09.2008 |
Czech Republic |
- |
Ukraine |
10.09.2008 |
TURKEY |
- |
Armenia |