Euro Result: Türkiye 3-1 Georgia
Euro Result: Türkiye 3-1 Georgia
In Dortmund, Arda Güler made his mark at the EURO championships when Türkiye defeated Georgia, a team making their debut.
Throughout a significant portion of the first 30 minutes, the focus was not so much on the winner as it was on the margin of victory for Türkiye; Hakan Çalhanoğlu set the tone as the Crescent-Stars shone. After Kaan Ayhan’s intense drive against the goal post, the goal frame was barely still vibrating when Mert Müldür responded with the most exquisite volley after a headed clearing.
Soon after consulting VAR, Kenan Yıldız scored again, but this time his attempt was rejected for offside. Georgia was in high spirits; nevertheless, Georges Mikautadze quickly got them going. The Metz striker deflected Giorgi Kochorashvili’s low cross in at the near post just beyond the half-hour mark, and he almost missed another shortly after.
Arda Güler emphatically brought home the advantage with a fantastic long-range shot as Türkiye steadied the ship in the pouring rain and regained their lead from the interval. But Georgia never realized they were defeated. Deep into added time, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s free-kick bounced back against the upright after Kochorashvili rocked the bar.
Everything was thrown forward by the rookies, even goalie Giorgi Mamardashvili. But after 97 minutes, Türkiye won it with a sidefooted goal from replacement Kerem Aktürkoğlu into an empty net from a corner.
Important statistics
- Since Cristiano Ronaldo in 2004, Arda Güler became the only adolescent to score on his EURO debut.
- After losing all five of their prior matches, Türkiye emerged victorious from their inaugural EURO match.
- Newcomers The 36th country in modern history to compete in a EURO finals and the 36th to score
- At 19 years and 114 days, Arda Güler is the fifth-youngest goal scorer in a EURO championships.
- With Arda Güler and Kenan Yıldız, both 19 years old, named in their starting XI, Türkiye became just the second team in EURO history to do so.
- After Rüştü Reçber, Hakan Çalhanoğlu is the first player from Turkey to compete in three EURO final events.
- In their previous 15 competitive games, Türkiye has only lost twice (W10 D3).
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