Tremendous Turkey take their place

By Paolo Menicucci at Stadio Osvaldo Martini

A hat-trick from Tevfik Köse, two late goals from Deniz Yilmaz and a great individual performance by playmaker Nuri Sahin helped Turkey comfortably see off Belarus and book their place in the semi-finals of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship as Group A runners-up.

Croatia semi-final
Although a point would have been enough for Turkey, who recovered from defeat by Italy to beat England on Thursday, their victory never looked in doubt after the took the lead late in the first-half and Belarus had a player sent off. Turkey, second behind Italy on head-to-head record, meet Croatia in Cascina on Wednesday while Belarus, thanks to their previous 1-0 win against the hosts, go home with their heads held high.

Khomliak busy
Sahin's showed his form on nine minutes, finding Köse unmarked inside Belarus penalty-box but the Turkey striker missed the target. Belarus goalkeeper Ihar Khomliak, already booked for handling a Yilmaz shot outside the area, did well to stop Özgürcan Özcan's close-range shot.

Turkey ahead
Two minutes from half-time Turkey finally took a well-deserved lead after Aleh Veratsila handled Köse's goalbound shot. The referee pointed the spot and sent off the Belarus defender before Köse sent Khomliak the wrong way.

Lead increases
Two minutes after the break Köse made it 2-0 after finishing off a wonderful Turkish move. Nuri picked out Yilmaz on the right and his low cross was cleverly dummied by Caner Erkin, allowing Köse to control and score.

Belarus score
Despite playing with just ten men, Belarus halved the deficit when Mikhail Sivakou cut in from the right and unleashed a ferocious effort into the far top corner. Turkey, however, continued to attack and Nuri created another good opportunity with a precise pass for Erkin but Khomialk made the save.

Victory ensured
The Belarus goalkeeper also handled a dangerous free-kick by Nuri but could do nothing when Köse collected the playmaker's wonderful chip over the Belarussian defence to complete his hat-trick with 25 minutes still to play. Two quickfire goals from Yilmaz completed the scoring, the striker running clean through on the counterattack twice in two minutes and finishing each time.