Turkey beat Czechs 3-2 to reach QF of European Championship 2008

The Turks had looked dead and buried on 62 minutes after a first-half header from giant Czech striker Jan Koller and a second-half strike by winger Jaroslav Plasil looked to have made the result safe for the Euro 2004 semi-finalists.

However the red-whites challenged to a potential early knock-out from the Euro 2008 as Arda Turan pulled one back 15 minutes from time and Turkey equalised with three minutes to go when keeper Petr Cech inexplicably dropped the ball for the captain Nihat Kahveci to slide the ball into an empty net.     Â

Turkey then grabbed a dramatic winner two minutes later when Nihat broke clear to fire a right-foot shot from the edge of the penalty area that went in off the underside of the bar.

There was intense drama in the dying stages when Turkey goalkeeper Volkan Demirel was show a red card, but Turkey were not to be denied to leave the Czechs heart-broken.

A penalty shoot-out had been a pre-match option as both teams had come the Stade de Geneve with identical Group A records from their two previous games. But in the end Turkey join Portugal in the quarter-finals, while the Czechs pack their bags.

Turkish coac fatih terim opted to play the Turkcell Super League's top scorer Semih Senturk alongside hero Kahveci up front in a traditional 4-4-2 formation unlike the 4-3-3 he used against the Swiss.