Turkey stun Holland
BURAK YILMAZ HAT-TRICK ENDS DUTCH FIGHT-BACK IN WORLD CUP QUALIFYING THRILLER
VETERAN captain Burak Yılmaz netted a hat-trick as Turkey saw off a late rally from Netherlands to secure a 4-2 home victory this week at the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign.
Davy Klaassen and Luuk de Jong scored for the Netherlands, but they could not mount a fightback and slipped to defeat at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in İstanbul. The defeat leaves the Dutch on the back foot in this early stage of qualification for the 2022 World Cup. Turkey can now head into their next games with confidence.
Yılmaz opened the scoring in the 14th minute of the Group G match with a deflected shot followed by a penalty 20 minutes later to put the Turks 2-0 up at half-time.
The game looked to be effectively over when Hakan Çalhanoğlu added the third a few seconds into the second half but two goals in as many minutes from Davy Klaassen and Luuk de Jong gave the Dutch hope of a late comeback.
Their momentum was ended by a stunning free-kick from Yılmaz that completed his hattrick.
The opening goal came at the end of a counter-attack with Yılmaz’s shot from the edge of the area taking a deflection off Matthijs de Ligt to beat goalkeeper Tim Krul, who had been pressed into service after Dutch first choice Jasper Cillessen was injured in the warm-up. Donyell Malen then gave away a penalty with a clumsy challenge on Okay Yokuşlu that Yılmaz converted with an emphatic strike.
Çalhanoğlu added the third 30 seconds into the second half with a speculative effort from outside the penalty area that deceived Krul. Yet the Atatürk Olympic Stadium, where Liverpool fought back from 3-0 down against AC Milan to win the 2005 Champions League final, looked like it could be the venue of another famous comeback as Klaassen scored in the 75th minute and De Jong got another 60 seconds later.
Klaassen’s goal was a touch of individual brilliance as he brought down a cross from Memphis Depay with a subtle touch, simultaneously turning two defenders to slam home from close range.
De Jong swooped onto a dipping cross to get a touch for the second.
❐ The match between the Turkish national team and Norway, which was scheduled to be played at Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo today, was moved to Spain due to travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Turkey will then host Latvia in İstanbul on Tuesday.