TALKING TURKEY (AND MORE)
Let’s be real here: we didn’t really know what to expect from Turkey v Georgia. Hell, neither Turkey nor Georgia knew what to expect from Turkey v Georgia. The formers were infamously the hipster’s choice at the last Euros before delivering a total of zilch points and a goal difference of minus seven; the latter headed to Dortmund for their major tournament debut. Cue an under-the-table deal between the two sides to, regardless of the result, deliver a rip-roaring occasion under torrential rain that made the Westfalenstadion roof do a terrific impression of Old Trafford.
Turkey employed a bangers-only policy when it came to their goals, with Mert Muldur pulverising a volley into the net before Arda Guler, part of Real Madrid’s never-ending supply of imported wunderkinds, upstaged him with a curler from range after Georges Mikautadze’s historic equaliser. The best was saved for last: nothing beats slotting into an empty net on the break after the opposition keeper’s gone up for a corner. Kerem Akturkoglu was the lucky man as the camera shook under the noise generated by the Turkish fans, their horrible memories from three years ago expunged by this redemptive moment.
Guler, 19, has already been tagged as the “Turkish Messi”, while Napoli’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, renowned as the “Georgian Messi”, was in the opposition lineup. Cristiano, the ‘Portuguese Ronaldo’, was at it a little later, still in action for his country at 76, alongside his pal Pepe, 82, against the Czech Republic. Ronaldo’s presence remains both remarkable and awkward, the Euro 2004 alumnus refusing to even entertain the thought of walking through the door marked Do One. Youth was what ended up saving the Portuguese, with Francisco Conceição – born a few months after Ronaldo’s senior debut for Sporting – scoring the late winner to match his old man, Sérgio, who netted a hat-trick against Germany in the group stages of Euro 2000.
Scotland are back at it later on Wednesday after being awfully polite guests in the opener, and manager Steve Clarke was terrifically blunt about that display. “We thought we were well prepared for Germany and obviously we weren’t,” he proclaimed before their crucial encounter with Switzerland. If honesty is the way to go from here, perhaps the best tune to play in the dressing room ahead of kick-off is the rousing song released by Del Amitri for their 1998 World Cup campaign. Don’t Come Home Too Soon made it to No 15 in the charts and while, yes, they finished bottom of the group, the message still stands.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Taha Hashim at 2pm BST for red-hot updates on Croatia 2-2 Albania, while Barry Glendenning will be on hand for Germany 3-1 Hungary at 5pm and Scott Murray will be here at 8pm for Scotland 0-2 Switzerland.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
We have won three medals, England won one [more than] 50 years ago but they are a great team, we are not, we are always the dark horse. We are little but we are brave, we will fight and we have the evidence of thousands of [fans] in Berlin. We are a nation that is entitled to feel proud and our results show that we are better than our perception” – Zlatko Dalic uses England as a punchbag while defending his Croatia team against criticism after the humbling by Spain.
EURO 2024 DAILY LETTERS
Before things get too hyped about Jude Bellingham – can I put a most belated word in for Duncan Edwards? At the same age he was pinging left- and right-footed rockets to Tom Finney and Stanley Matthews on the English wings or the back of his opponent’s net. There is sadly not too much moving image of his exploits, and increasingly few alive now to tell the awesome tale. His greatest advocate Bobby Charlton among those. On top of their physical and artistic qualities, Jude and Dunc are both Black Country babes ainnit!” – Nick Grant.
Re: Brighton talking to Crysencio Summerville from Leeds, hoping he will make them feel mighty real (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition). Are Leeds also asking that he doesn’t leave them this way?” – Neale Redington.
Thank you for your annual spoiler that everyone plays everyone else twice (yesterday’s Beyond the Euros, full email edition). If Tom Werner and co get their way, this moderately funny warning will become both redundant and a sick joke” – Karim Fatih.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Neale Redington, who wins a copy of Euro 84: The Greatest Tournament You Never Saw, by Pitch Publishing. Visit their bookshop here. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Join the Football Weekly Daily squad [yes, it throws us too – Euro 2024 Daily Ed] for their latest pod. Today featuring Labour leader Keir Starmer. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts fix.
A MESSAGE FROM THE MAN
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• This is an extract from our daily Euros football email … Euro 2024 Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
