Stefan Kuntz waved his arms wildly, feared for a long time, then cheered after all – and was even moved to tears. In the ninth minute of stoppage time, Burak Yilmaz ensured Turkey’s first win under their new coach and the emotional outburst at Kuntz. With a penalty kick after video analysis, the veteran secured the 2-1 (0-0) success on Monday evening and thus a spark of hope for participating in the World Cup.
Due to the success, Turkey stays close to Norway. They are two points behind the second-placed Scandinavians. In a direct duel, Kuntz had to be content with a 1-1 draw on his debut. The criticism of the Turkish press was not long in coming. The sports newspaper Fanatic had titled: “The German vaccination did not work.”
Fans and journalists are likely to have been even more nervous when Merih Demiral made an own goal after 70 minutes. Serdar Dursun started the race to catch up (75th). Turkey ran continuously in the closing stages, while the home team tried with all means to bring the draw over time. However, they did not always act fairly. An alleged handball has not yet been sanctioned. But after a foul by Kaspars Dubra, referee Andreas Ekberg looked at the scene again and decided on a penalty.
Yilmaz ran up and stayed freezing. Then Kuntz could see the redemption. He walked back and forth in disagreement, always wiping the tears from his eyes, before he was congratulated by his function team. Turkey no longer has the qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in their own hands. Against Gibraltar on November 13th and in Montenegro on November 16th, victories are a must to get into the playoffs if the Norwegians make a mistake.
The Netherlands meanwhile left nothing to burn against the football dwarf Gibraltar. Virgil van Dijk (9th) and Memphis Depay (21st / 45th +3, hand penalty) got the team of bond coach Louis van Gaal on course during the break. Denzel Dumfries (48th), Arnaut Danjuma (75th) and Dortmund’s Donyell Malen (86th) ensured the befitting result. Meanwhile, Norway won the eminently important win against Montenegro even without the injured exceptional striker Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund and remains on the play-off spot. Mohamed Elyounoussi released the hosts with his goals in the 29th and 90th minute.
There was a change at the top of the table in Group H. Russia overtook Croatia. The Russians won 2: 1 (2: 1) in Slovenia and Croatia did not get more than 2: 2 (1: 2) at home against Slovakia, although Andrej Kramaric from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim made it to 1 : Had hit 1 (25th). Cyprus and Malta had already separated 2-2 (1-0). The leader of Group E, Belgium, was still in action in the Nations League on Sunday and was therefore out again.
Behind them, Wales are in a good starting position thanks to a 1-0 (1-0) win in Estonia. The Welsh are still third. But the Czech Republic, as Belgium’s first pursuer, also has eleven points on the account, but also completed one game more. For the Czechs, Patrick Schick from Bundesliga club Bayer 04 Leverkusen scored 2-0 (1-0) at Belarus.
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