Croatia started their Euro 2016 in fine style by beating Turkey 1-0 in their tournament opener at Paris. A brilliant volley from talisman Luka Modric in the 41st minute was enough to win the match for Croatia.
However, the match was a fiercely contested one with a number of tackles coming from both teams and in the end, Croatia achieved a well-deserved victory and won their opening game of the Euros for a third consecutive time. Turkey, on the other hand, continued their losing streak in the opening game of the Euros.
Let’s take a look at some of the talking points from the match.
1) Modric’s Magical Strike
Luka Modric had made his mark on the Euros way back in 2008 when he helped Croatia win all their group games and qualify for the quarterfinals where they lost to Turkey. Modric was subsequently selected in the Team of the Tournament for his performances.
In today’s match against Turkey, the Real Madrid midfielder was in top form as he scored a wonderful volley in the 41st minute to open the scoring for Croatia. A corner taken by Darijo Srna was cleared by Selcuk Inan before Modric fired a wonderful volley past Turkey goalie Volcan Babacan to score his eleventh international goal.
Apart from scoring the winner, Modric displayed some wonderful performances in midfield as well as in defence. One thing is evident from his performances that Modric could be one of the players that every team should be wary of.
2) Vedran Corluka’s commitment and dedication towards the national team
The 30-year-old Lokomotiv Moscow defender has been one of the best Croatian players of his generation and one of the most experienced players of this team. In today’s match, Corluka may not have played as big a role as Modric but displayed an enormous amount of resilience on the pitch.
In the 31st minute, Corluka was accidentally elbowed in the head and began bleeding. He was soon back on the pitch with his head being bandaged. In the second half, his bandage was removed and he only had a stitch on his head and soon he started to bleed again but was back on the pitch with some extra dressing.
His head bled another two times: once in the 74th minute and again during injury time but not before he would make a crucial tackle on Hakan Balta to deny him a scoring opportunity.
Had it not been for Corluka’s last gasp tackle, there was a chance that Turkey would have equalised but despite being badly injured, Corluka was resilient and kept coming back time and again. It just shows how crucial Vedran Corluka is to Croatia and how much serving the national team actually means to Corluka.
3) Croatia failed to capitalise on opportunities
Croatia may have ended up on the winning side but they had numerous opportunities to increase the margin of victory but could not cash on those opportunities. Marcelo Brozovic, in particular had a number of opportunities missed and hit the crossbar on one occasion.
Captain Darijo Srna hit the woodwork with a free-kick and so did Ivan Perisic’s header during the final moments of the game.
Croatia’s star striker Mario Mandzukic also failed to find the net in any of his four attempts on goal. The match against Turkey was probably the easiest one Croatia had in this tournament and with Czech Republic and Spain up next, Croatia will have to utilise more of the opportunities they get in order to qualify for the knockout stages.
4) Arda Turan couldn’t live up to expectations
Although Croatia were the favorites coming into the match, Turkey were expected to put up a strong fight and a lot of expectations were shouldered by their skipper Arda Turan.
Turkey had some extremely talented players like Hakan Calhanoglu and Burak Yilmaz, a lot of their hopes were pinned on the Barcelona midfielder. Turan, who was one of Turkey’s star players in their semifinal run in Euro 2008 was far from displaying his full potential.
Throughout the match, Turkey were struggling at the front and it just wasn’t Arda’s day. He didn’t have much action on goal today and was substituted in the 65th minute for Burak Yilmaz.
Turkey have a daunting task ahead of them as they next face Spain and Czech Republic and if they are to stand any chance of qualification, then Arda Turan will have to step up and deliver.
5) Turkey are yet to begin their Euro campaign on a winning note
Euro 2016 is Turkey’s fourth appearance at the European Championship. Their 1-0 loss to Croatia today also marks the fourth consecutive occasion when they have lost in their opening game of the Euros.
In Turkey’s Euro debut in 1996, they were up against fellow debutants Croatia at Nottingham where a late Goran Vlaovic winner separated both teams. In their second appearance in 2000, Turkey lost 2-1 to eventual runners-up Italy. In 2008, Turkey once again lost, this time, 2-0 to Portugal although they would end the tournament better than Portugal.
After their 1-0 loss to Croatia, Turkey need to bounce back strongly against Spain and Czech Republic in order to stand any chance of qualification from such a tricky ground.
