Croatia Vs. Turkey, Euro 2012 Qualifying Playoffs: Croatia Advance After Scoreless Draw

Absolutely nobody expected Turkey to be able to recover from a 3-0 home loss in the first leg of their Euro 2012 playoff tie against Croatia, and what do you know - they totally didn’t. The visitors did look far better than they did on Friday, however, threatening repeatedly and coming close to finding the goals that would have made the match interesting, but Croatia, who were more or less already though, looked pretty disinterested in attacking or scoring and as the minutes slipped away without a Turkey goal things only got worse.

Ultimately, the hosts’ defence held and as the game wound down it became apparent that both teams were just out there for appearance’s sake. Croatia had most of the ball, Turkey most of the shots (a very credible eighteen, with ten on target), and then the game finished 0-0, but only after a flare had landed on Stipe Pletikosa, making for some strange scenes at the very end of the match. Anyway, Croatia are through to the summer’s tournament 3-0 on aggregate, and they’ll be a third seed in Poland/Ukraine.