Goalkeeping errors and poor pace of the game. A lackluster performance by the Czechs helped Turkey to victory

The Czech national football team lost its last match of the calendar year. Turkey’s 2:1 triumph was decided by goals from Enes Ünal and Hakan Calhanoglu, with Václav Černý celebrating for the Czechs.

The first big event of the matches was the end of the career of the famous Turkish referee Cüneyt Çakır. In the fifth minute he symbolically blew his whistle for the last time and left the field of play to the applause of the crowd.

In the game itself, it was Hakan Calhanoglu’s 13th minute attempt from outside the box that first caught the eye, but Jiri Pavlenka dealt with it. On the other side, Václav Černý tried a volley but missed the goal.

In the 30th minute, the crowd celebrated. Enes Ünal broke away from the Czech defence and sent the ball to the back post. Then Cengiz Under shot, but Pavlenka was more successful this time. The Turks, however, could see that the goal helped them.

After the change of sides, the Czechs started very passively and without any ideas going forward, but in the 56th minute they were helped by the home goalkeeper who let a simple shot by Černý into the middle of the net. All of a sudden, the game was tied at 1:1.

The slow pace was not helped by the away goal, the second half was full of inaccuracies on both sides. Only in the 65th minute Cenk Özkacar brought the well-fanned spectators out of their boredom, substitute Tomas Koubek had to come on.

Five minutes later Koubek made a mistake. Calhanoglu fired towards the near post, the Augsburg goalkeeper did not keep the space.

The Czechs then started to dominate the ball, but there was still no idea or moment of surprise.

The Czechs could not apply any pressure and lost 1: 2.

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