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First Round

• Mon. 19th June: (Group B)
  Game 17 Turkey - Belgium
  King Baudouin stadium, Brussels (20:45)

Turkey need to beat Belgium by more goals than Sweden beat Italy, in order to make the quarter-finals for a game against Portugal. A draw between Belgium and Turkey would be enough for the co-hosts to move on to Amsterdam, as Group B runner-up.

Belgium have been accused of not taking the Turks too seriously and may do so at their peril. Luc Nilis is expected to start up front instead of Derby County's Branko Strupar as the home side search for at least a point.

Emile Mpenza was not very effective against the Italian defence and Belgium fans will be hoping to see more from him today.

Turkey have gone one better than they did in Euro96; by getting a point against Sweden, in the tournament's least inspiring match to date, and a goal against Italy. Nothing from the Sweden game indicates that Turkey would manage to pull off a victory against Belgium, in Brussels.

There's a massive Turkish immigrant population in Brussels and nearby Germany, but they will only have something to shout about if Turkey do more than pack the midfield and strikers Hakan Sukur and Erdem Arif manage to get away from the Belgians.

Turkey Team:
1-Rustu Recber
3-Ogun Temizkanoglu, 8-Tugay Kerimoglu, 4-Fatih Akyel, 5-Fehmi Alpay Ozalan
6-Arif Erdem, 7-Okan Buruk, 9-Hakan Sukur, 14-Suat Kaya
19-Abdullah Ercan, 11-Tayfun Korkut

Belgium Team:
1-Filip De Wilde
2-Eric Deflandre, 3-Joos Valgaeren, 4-Lorenzo Staelens, 18-Nico Van Kerkhoven
6-Yves Vanderhaeghe, 7-Marc Wilmots, 8-Bart Goor, 11-Gert Verheyen
9-Emile Mpenza, 16-Luc Nilis

Referee: Kim Milton Nielsen (Denmark)

First Half:
Belgium attacked the Turkey goal from the start, Mpenza looking lively with two shots just wide of the goal in the first three minutes. In the fifth minute Nilis sprinted up the right and forced Recber into a save at the near post.

For the first quarter of an hour, the Turkish forwards hardly saw the ball.

Then they came back into the game to give the Belgians a few scares. The Danish referee suffered thigh cramp in the 40th minute and had to be replaced by Gunter Benko of Austria.

Just before the half-time whistle, the Belgians went quiet. The ball was chipped into the Belgium area, bounced high and Hakan Sukur jumped above de Wilde to head through the Belgium goalkeeper's outstretched arms.

Mpenza had a goal disallowed for offside, but it was Turkey who went into the break with a one goal advantage.
Half-time: 1-0

Second Half:
Belgium came out for the second half needing to score at least one goal, or they'd be out. Rustu, in goal for Turkey, kept his team in the game making save after save from Mpenza and getting down well to a drive from Vanderhaege, ten minutes from time.

Belgium started to get frustrated. They packed the Turkish area, but still couldn't score. Despite the Belgian pressure, the Turks still made plenty of attacks themselves.

Twenty minutes from time, Suat ran down the Turkish right and passed into the middle of the Belgian area. De Wilde had the angle covered for the shot but Hakan Sukur into the middle to claim his second goal. No Belgian defenders in sight.

After that, Filip de Wilde was the only Belgian player not in the Turkish half. Again Rustu kept the ball out.

The Belgians were caught square again, seven minutes from time, as Arif ran through on goal; to almost make it three. In the next minute, de Wilde lost his cool completely, running right out of his area and lunging at Arif around the neck. The reserve referee made no hesitation to show the Belgian keeper the red card.

Deflandre pulled on the goalkeepers jersey, Arif was stretchered off and Italy scored again in Eindhoven. It was all over for Belgium and Sweden.

Result: Turkey 2 -- Belgium 0

Man of the Match: Rustu.

What a turn up for the books. The co-hosts are out and Turkey join Italy in the quarter-final; where they'll play Portugal.

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