HOWZAT

They had a number of key first-team players out with injury and suspension — and have lost three more for the semi-final with Germany — but compensated for that with an energetic central midfield comprising Tuncay Sanli, of Middlesbrough, who was outstanding, and Altintop, who was not far behind. Tuncay is out of the Germany game, along with Turan and Emre Asik, and Demirel is serving a two-match ban, so it will need another supreme effort to progress. Everything points to a German victory, but so it did for Croatia last night.

And so it should have been, had chance after chance not gone spare. Olic was the worst culprit, but by no means the only one, and on the odd occasion when the Croats did find the target they were confronted by Rüstü, long into his century of caps, and enjoying an extraordinary farewell tour.

He produced the save of the night to deny Srna from a free kick after 83 minutes, and that just about summed up Croatia’s misfortune. This was a match unlike many in the Championship in that it was about an unyielding force, rather than a creative one, and Turkey were a defiant presence all the way from the 19th minute, when Olic hit the bar from no more than five yards from a Modric cross, to the 89th when a cross by Modric found the same player who almost turned it in from close range once more.

The problem was that by the time Croatia showed the form that had defeated Germany, and led to three straight wins in the group stage, it was too late. Turkey were set in a stance of extreme resistance and nothing the Croats could do would penetrate that defensive line.

After the game, it was revealed that they did not even practise penalties. Perhaps they just feel the force is with them here. Having turned nine minutes of winning football into their greatest European Championship campaign, who are we to argue?

Croatia (4-4-1-1): S Pletikosa — V Corluka, R Kovac, J Simunic, D Pranjic — D Srna, N Kovac, L Modric, I Rakitic — N Kranjcar (sub: M Petric, 64) — I Olic. Substitutes not used: M Galinovic, V Runje, D Simic, H Vejic, O Vukojevic, N Kalinic, N Pokrivac, D Knezevic, J Leko, I Klasnic.

Turkey (4-1-4-1): Rüstü Reçber — Sabri Sarioglu, Gökhan Zan, Emre Asik, Hakan Balta — Mehmet Topal (sub: Semih Sentürk, 75) — C Kazim-Richards (sub: Ugur Boral, 60), Hamit Altintop, Tuncay Sanli, Arda Turan — Nihat Kahveci. Substitutes not used: Tolga Zengin, Servet Çetin, Emre Belözoglu, Gökdeniz Karadeniz, Tümer Metin, Fehmi Emre Güngör, Ayhan Akman, Mevlüt Erdinç. Booked: Tuncay Sanli, Arda Turan, Ugur Boral.

Referee: R Rosetti (Italy).