Bull of Bosphorus puts Turkey into quarters

Sukur gave the Turks the lead on the stroke of half time and Belgian goalkeeper Filip De Wilde, who made a horrendous blunder in the opening game of the tournament against Sweden, was again to blame. De Wilde and Lorenzo Staelens hesitated when a high ball was lofted into the penalty area and Sukur intervened to head home a soft goal as De Wilde failed to get a fist to the ball.

That sparked wild celebrations from the thousands of Turkish fans congregated behind the goal. And, Belgium were left reeling after 70 minutes when the Turks broke away catching the Red Devils defence cold. Suat Kaya raced on to an Arif Erdem pass and set up Sukur, dubbed The Bull of the Bosphorus’, who blasted the ball past De Wilde into the roof of the net.

It was textbook finishing from the Galatasaray forward who will sign his contract with Inter after the tournament. To add insult to injury De Wilde, who has had a dismal Euro 2000, was sent off in the closing minutes for a wild challenge on Arif Erdem outside the box which saw the Turkish forward stretchered off the field.

Turkish expectations for Euro 2000 had been high with the victory of Galatasaray in the UEFA Cup last month but they had taken only one point from two matches in the tournament until Monday. Denizli had been much criticised by many in Turkey during this tournament but this is unchartered territory now for Turkish football. (AFP)