|
The two teams competing tonight still remain outsiders to win Euro 2008 despite their impressive performances in the group stages.
Croatia topped their group and have already beaten the pre-tournament favourites Germany. With Tottenham bound playmaker Luka Modric pulling their strings the team looks strong. Bilic has masterminded a united squad encouraging all the players to play for the nation. Whilst the strike force may lack finishing quality, no one can fault their effort levels. The last group game did see the majority of the team rested however whilst the players should be fresh, Portugal showed this may not be an advantage. Turkey delighted spectators with their late comebacks in the group stage. To reach this stage they came from 0-2 down against the Czech Republic to dramatically win 3-2, in what has been described as one of the best comebacks in European Championships history. After being sent-off late in that very game, goalkeeper Demirel is suspended so Rustu Recber is expected to make his 117th international appearance. Furthermore Croatia have seven players and Turkey have eight players on a booking who risk the possibility of missing the semi-final if they pick up another booking tonight. So some players will have to tread carefully tonight. Score Prediction: Croatia 3 - Turkey 0 Bilic has got his team playing well and despite Turkey making it through to this stage, T90M predicts the Croats will be too strong for Turkey. Turkey may well leave it too late for another thrilling comeback.  Croatia had the chances throughout the first 90 minutes and when they struck with just one minute remaining of extra time it appeared they were heading through. However, Turkey left it incredibly late once again and continue to be comeback kings. Turkey will meet Germany in the semi-finals.
|
