A superb volley from Luka Modric settled the Group D contest at the Parc des Princes on Sunday, earning Croatia all three points ahead of fixtures with Czech Republic and Spain.
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The Real Madrid playmaker scored the only goal, breaking the deadlock in a tense affair just before halftime by meeting a deflected clearance with a fine volley from 25 metres that bounced in front of diving Turkey goalkeeper Volkan Babacan.
But after carving out a couple of half-chances against technically superior opponents they so almost opened the score, only for Ozan Tufan to glance his header straight at Danijel Subasic from six yards out.
Turkey’s Ozan Tufan looks dejected after a missed chance during the Euro 2016 Turkey v Croatia match at Parc des Princes, Paris, June 12, 2016.
Spain and Czech Republic play tomorrow, which will balance out the standings in the group.
The other Group D match will kick-off at 3 pm. local time in France (1300 GMT). I am not anxious about goals; who would be happy if I score two and we lose? To hit a ball first time out of the air, and get that much pace on it when it’s just dropping from straight up, and hit it that accurately, and with so much dip that it bounces in front of a well-positioned goalkeeper, is obscenely hard to do. “He has shown so much courage”, said Cacic before giving a graphic description of his player’s struggles.
Although Croatia coach Ante Cacic called it “magical”, the modest Modric could not even recall that his 11th worldwide goal over a 10-year span made it 10 wins and a draw when he is on the scoresheet.
Victory gave Croatia revenge for their elimination on penalties by Turkey in the quarterfinals at Euro 2008, although they had previously beaten them in qualifying prior to Euro 2012. – Luka Modric became the first player to score for Croatia at two different European Championship finals. We are aware of our quality, but it is only the beginning – this is an important first step. I think we are a big national team.
This generation of Croatian players have not performed as well as they might have done at global tournaments recently, but Modric said after the game that they now played “like a big team”.
Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren was left out of Croatia’s squad, as was Barcelona’s teenage midfielder Alen Halilovic.
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Corluka’s wound reopened and he was patched up twice more, angering Turkish fans whistled and jeered when he fell to the ground becauase they felt he was wasting time.
