Stand: 10:43 a.m.
Stefan Kuntz wins with Turkey in Latvia and keeps the chance to participate in the World Cup in Qatar next year
What: REUTERS
Turkey wins with a flattering penalty in added time in Latvia and thus preserves their chance to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. With Stefan Kuntz there is a lot of tension after the win.
Et was the last chance to keep hopes of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar alive. Burak Yilmaz took another deep breath and then ran for the penalty kick. The Turkish international pocketed the penalty in the ninth minute of stoppage time and shot his team to a flattering 2-1 win in Latvia.
What Turkey had offered in the 98 minutes before the penalty was not worthy of the World Cup. Nevertheless, Stefan Kuntz’s team still has every chance of qualifying for the tournament in Qatar. Turkey is two points behind Norway in qualifying group G in third place. Victories against Gibraltar and Montenegro are a must to move up to second place in the play-offs. Since Norway still has to play in the Netherlands on the last day of the match, Kuntz has a good chance of reaching the play-offs with his team.
Burak Yilmaz celebrates his winning goal
Source: dpa / Roman Koksarov
But his team has to show a different face in the upcoming games. It was only after a 70th minute Merih Demiral own goal that Turkey woke up in Latvia. Serdar Dursun headed the equalizer. For the winning goal, the Turks needed a questionable penalty. In the 94th minute, Yilmaz went down in a duel with his opponent Kaspars Dubra in the penalty area. Referee Andreas Ekberg initially let the game continue.
“Three points for the Turkish people”
Until the video conference intervened and asked the Swede to watch the scene again. Ultimately, Ekberg decided on a penalty, and Yilmaz converted the penalty in the 99th minute. On the sidelines, the substitutes freaked out with joy. Right in the middle: Kuntz. When the first euphoria over the happy victory had subsided, the 58-year-old ran along the sidelines and cried with relief. Again and again he wiped the tears from his face.
“It was a special victory. I was very pleased with the reaction from my players after the Latvian goal. There were a lot of comments. About their lack of mentality and their lack of self-confidence, ”said Kuntz. His players have shown that this is not the case: “They believed in themselves. The fact that this win was emotional and dramatic makes it important. I am very glad that they never gave up the fight. As a reward there are three points for the Turkish people. “
Norway wins against Montenegro at the same time
Kuntz, who won the European Championship title with the German U21 national team last summer, made a decent debut as Turkey’s national coach. Before the win in Latvia, his team played 1-1 against Norway last Friday.
“We would have liked to give our Turkish fans a win to let the plant of hope grow a little faster – it is still a bit small now,” said Kuntz after the draw. Since Norway won 2-0 against Montenegro, the plant did not grow any further after the victory in Latvia, but it also did not die.
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