The European Championship has been very disappointing for Turkey. The team of national coach Senol Günes lost on Sunday evening in the third and last group match against Switzerland and returns home without points: 3-1. Irfan Kahveci saved the honor with a nice goal after more than an hour of play, but could not prevent Xherdan Shaqiri from claiming a leading role. The Liverpool attacker accounted for two of the three Swiss hits, the first of which was of great beauty. Switzerland still has a chance to reach the eighth finals, but it depends on the results from the other groups.
Both Turkey and Switzerland still had a chance to advance to the next round as number three. Yann Sommer appeared somewhat surprising at the kick-off for the Swiss. The goalkeeper flew back home after the second group match against Italy (3-0) to attend the birth of his second child, but returned in time to take place under the bar. On the side of the Turks, there was again no starting spot for Orkun Kökçü. The Feyenoord midfielder started on the bench, just like against Italy and Wales, but did come in the lines for his European Championship debut ten minutes before the end.
Both teams tried to make it an attractive game from the first whistle, without this always being accompanied by good football. In particular, the build-up among the Turks often left much to be desired. Günes’ team did create the first danger of the match, when Kaan Ayhan saw a shot from the second line stylishly caught by Sommer. Two minutes later, Switzerland was accurate. Haris Seferovic was given all the time and space to turn on the edge of the penalty area and then found the right corner with a dry slider: 1-0.
Switzerland had the upper hand in the first act and managed to double the score after half an hour of play. On a pass from Steven Zuber, Shaqiri put the ball well in front of his right foot to curl the leather beautifully in the top right corner for the 2-0. Barely a minute later, the same Shaqiri also had a third Swiss goal on his shoe, but this time Ugurcan managed to save Cakir. A shot by Seferovic also did not lead to a goal. The striker saw how Caglar Söyüncü threw himself in front of the shot at the last moment. Switzerland continued to dominate in the second half, but there were also plenty of opportunities for Turkey.
Mert Müldür finished after a nice solo in front of Sommer, but was imprecise in the finish. Kahveci did that a lot better after an hour of play. The midfielder got the necessary space to shoot about twenty meters from the goal and found the top left corner. However, Turkey could not enjoy the connecting goal for a long time, as Shaqiri ended the game five minutes later. The preparatory work on the left side of the field was again by Zuber, after which the star player from Switzerland suddenly finished: 3-1. Granit Xhaka had the opportunity to increase the score even further, but his free kick hit the post fifteen minutes before the end.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italy | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 9 |
| 2 | Wales | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | Switzerland | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | -1 | 4 |
| 4 | Turkey | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -7 | 0 |
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