Arda Guler brings the thunder as Turkey survive storm to beat Georgia
Oh, what fun we had. What an occasion this was, what noise, what a night. Played in the middle of a biblical storm, water cascading off the roof of the Westfalenstadion, the Euros best night fit the weather somehow: a wild, wonderful, wide open match that had everything: 38 shots, three efforts that hit the woodwork and four goals. One was historic, Georges Mikautadze scoring Georgia’s first ever at a tournament; two were ridiculous, comic book belters from Arda Guler and Mert Muldur, and the other was scored with the last touch of an astonishing evening Kerem Akturkoglu running 70 yards and rolling the ball into an empty net.
Right there, with the bench emptying and everyone heading after him, the place erupting yet again when you thought it could hardly erupt any more, Turkey had the victory and this game had the ending it deserved. Or one of them anyway. Just seconds before, Georgia had a 96th-minute chance to equalise – their third opportunity in added time – which would have been just as dramatic, and probably just as deserved. Given one last chance, goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili was up for the corner, the chance to be a hero. Instead, the ball was cleared and it was Atkurkoglu who took that role.
Him and everyone else. How do you choose a single player here? This was brilliant; they were brilliant, all of them. They played for pride and for the points that ultimately Turkey took, sure, but also for the joy of it, the enthusiasm overflowing like the water off the roof. Football is better in the rain. By half-time, they had already racked up 17 shots between them and the ball had been in the net three times – one of them ruled out. And the best thing was that it didn’t stop there; if anything it got even better.
For 96 minutes, they went at it. The final touch delivered the final goal; the first could have come after just nine minutes from Kaan Ayhan, set up by Kenan Yildiz, who smashed a shot against the post, the ball travelling at 122km/h and spinning across the line before going out for a goal kick on the other side. And even that early, it wasn’t much of a stretch to say that Turkey deserved a lead; Ayhan had already headed a fraction over and Abdulkerim Bardakci had nodded just past the same post that his team mate now hit.
Yildiz and Ayhan in particular impressed, the ball moved quickly from one side to the other, a dynamism to go with the technique; Vincenzo Montella’s team had started impressively. And yet almost immediately, came a reminder that Georgia were here to play too, Anzor Mekvabishvili’s deflected shot coming off Ferdi Kaglioglu and drawing a sharp save from Mert Gunok. From the corner, Georges Mikautadze bent wide.
This was gathering pace, Arda Guler almost delivering for Yildiz, Mamardashvili soon scrambling away another shot and Hakan Calhanoglu shooting wide on the turn before the opening goal came. And what a goal it was too, a lovely exchange involving Yildiz, Orkun Kokcu and Ferdi Kadioglu eventually seeing the ball loop out, half cleared, to the edge of the area. There Muldur struck a glorious volley with the outside of his foot, fading away from Mamardashvili’s hand and curling into the top corner.
The yellow wall, red for the day, erupted. What a noise there was, what an explosion, smoke in the air. Then, and again two minutes later when Turkey got their second – or thought they had. Guler, Kokcu, Yildiz, and this place went wild once more. On the screen in the corner though, a message appeared, which was helpful if not welcomed by most of those in here: “Turkey player 19 was in an offside position when scoring the goal,” it said. So Georgia, liberated, grasped their moment to make history.
Giorgi Kochorashvili provided it with a couple of step-overs and a neatly filtered pass; Mikautadze completed it, turning the ball in at the near post. In the stands there were tears; in the press area there were too. What a moment it was, and it would not just be one: Georgia were flying now and so nearly scored again straight after. Again, it was Mikautadze. Otar Kakabadze, streaking through, produced a headed lay off and, on the turnMikautadze’s volley went just wide. The cheer that soon greeted Samet Akaydin’s tackle on Khvicha Kvaratskhelia spoke of relief.
Half-time brought a break but they were not slowing down, not changing anything. Why fix this? The game seemed to take on a momentum of its own. There was a chance for Yildiz at one end and Giorgi Tsitaishvili at the other. Another dropped for Mikautadze, Turkish bodies thrown before him. Hakan Calhanoglu’s free-kick was pushed away by Mamardashvili.
And then, a little after the hour, came the kid. What was most startling about Guler’s extraordinary shot, curled left footed into the far corner from 25 yards, was the assuredness of it, how deliberate it was, how there never seemed to be any doubt whatsoever that the ball would end up exactly where it did.
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The 19-year-old stood in front of the stand, a hand to his ear. Just listen to that.
Still, it wasn’t done. If that was an outrageous goal – and it was – what followed could have been as good, the move with which Kochorashvili almost equalised. The torches were still on all around the ground, the Turks still celebrating with a light show when, with a gorgeous soft touch, he brought the ball down, lifted it gently over a defender’s foot and, with Lasha Dvali diving at him, struck the bar.
Still Georgia came. They had waited 30 years for this and they weren’t letting go. They so nearly did it too. A glorious chance fell to a combination of Anzor Mekvabishvili and Kochorashvili but somehow between them they put it wide from just four yards on 93 and two minutes later Zuriko Davitashvili hit the post, every shot a scream, leaving one last chance. With everyone up, though Akturkoglu escaped and provided an alternative ending to an astonishing evening.