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    Cymru vs. Turkey | 2024 European Championship – Qualifying Round – Grp D

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        Live ReportMatch Summary

        5. Match Summary

          Cymru have to settle for the play-offs as a route to UEFA EURO 2024 after drawing against Türkiye in Cardiff whilst Croatia won in Zagreb against Armenia to take the final qualification spot.

          Cymru went into the match knowing they had to win and for Croatia to lose or draw. And it started incredibly well for Cymru as they took an early lead.

          However, Cymru will feel incredibly hard done by following some questionable decisions that denied them two penalties, whilst Türkiye equalised through a harshly awarded spot kick.

          Neco Williams scored a lovely goal when he cut inside from the left and scored with his right foot. The goal put Cymru into a qualification place until the 43rd minute of the Croatia. When they took the lead against Armenia they leapfrogged Cymru.

          Brennan Johnson was fouled twice in the box during the first half but on both occasions Cymru’s appeals were waved away by the referee.

          Türkiye equalised from the penalty spot when they were awarded a penalty in the second half after the referee judged that Ben Davies had fouled Kenan Yıldız with a push in the box. Yusuf Yazıcı scored when he sent Danny Ward the wrong way.

          Cymru will now turn their attention to the UEFA EURO 2024 play-offs in March 2024. Cymru are guaranteed a home match in the play-off semi-finals.

          Rob Page will find out his team’s fate when the draw is made on Thursday, 23 November at 11:00am.

        7. The final group standings.

        9. FULL-TIME: CYMRU 1-1 TÜRKIYE

          It’s all over in Cardiff and it’ll be the play-offs for Cymru as Croatia win 1-0 against Armenia.

        10. 90' + 2'

          Dan James plays the ball into the box and Jordan James attempts to direct the ball in at the near post but it goes behind for a goal kick.

        11. 84'

          The ball is in the back of the net but Johnson’s goal is ruled offside.

        12. 83'

          Substitution

          MOORE Kieffer Roberto Francisco replaces WILLIAMS Neco

        13. 81'

          Yellow card

          KEREM AKTÜRKOĞLU

        14. 79'

          Substitution

          JAMES Daniel Owen replaces WILSON Harry

        15. 77'

          Substitution

          KAAN AYHAN replaces YUSUF SARI

        16. 76'

          Cymru are going to have to come out looking for the win here. Big final 15 minutes coming up.

        17. 74'

          That was close! Sari goes close with a long range effort and it skims the top of the crossbar.

        18. 70'

          Yellow card

          ZEKI ÇELIK

        19. 70'

          GOAL! Yazici converts the penalty. The match is level.

        20. 69'

          Penalty

          YUSUF YAZICI

        21. 69'

          The referee has awarded a penalty to Türkiye.

        22. 68'

          Yellow card

          DAVIES Benjamin Thomas

        23. 63'

          Johnson is seeing plenty of the ball and is looking dangerous.

        24. 60'

          Substitution

          BROOKS David replaces BROADHEAD Nathan Paul

        25. 60'

          Wilson crosses from the right and finds Ampadu whose header looks useful but the effort is saved by Bayindir.

        26. 58'

          Substitution

          KENAN YILDIZ replaces BARIŞ ALPER YILMAZ

        27. 58'

          Türkiye are currently on top but Ampadu clears the ball for a corner. When the ball is swung in, Ward has to make a pointblank save to deny an equaliser.

        28. 52'

          Yellow card

          YUSUF YAZICI

        29. 49'

          Johnson goes close again but Bayindir pushes the ball away for a decent save.

        30. 46'

          Substitution

          ZEKI ÇELIK replaces CENK ÖZKACAR

        31. 46'

          KICK OFF: SECOND HALF

          Türkiye get the second half underway.

        33. Half-time Summary

          It was a great first-half from Cymru who started brightly knowing that they have to win the match to stand any chance of qualifying automatically.

          Neco Williams scored early when he cut inside onto his right foot to fire the ball home and Cymru have looked quite comfortable ever since.

          Croatia are in front against Armenia making it 1-0 just before half-time, so as things stand they will progress automatically with Cymru going into the play-offs in March.

        34. Enjoy the moment.

        35. HALF-TIME: CYMRU 1-0 TÜRKIYE

          Neco Williams has given Cymru the lead at half-time.

        36. 43'

          Action reaches the other end and Johnson nearly nets Cymru’s second but the shot is saved.

        37. 42'

          Türkiye’s best chance so far falls to Aktürkoğlu but he sends his shot high and wide.

        38. 32'

          Çakir, the Türkiye goalkeeper, leaves the pitch injured. Referee doesn’t appear to be getting sent to the monitor here for a VAR review.

        39. 32'

          Substitution

          YUSUF YAZICI replaces ABDÜLKADIR ÖMÜR

        40. 31'

          Substitution

          ALTAY BAYINDIR replaces UĞURCAN ÇAKIR

        41. 30'

          Johnson is bundled over in the box. Corner given but it may got to VAR.

        42. 21'

          Cymru want a penalty after Johnson is pushed over in the box but the referee plays on.

        43. 21'

          Yellow card

          JOHNSON Brennan

        44. 16'

          Cymru have forced two corners in succession as they put the Turkish defence under pressure.

        45. 13'

          Lovely goal from Williams who cut inside to strike with his right foot.

        47. Cymru

        48. 7'

          GÔL!!! Williams hits the back of the net for Cymru!!!

        49. 6'

          Goal

          WILLIAMS Neco

        50. 1'

          KICK OFF!

          The match is underway.

        51. '

          Yellow card

          ROBERTS Connor Richard John

        54. The players have arrived and are on the pitch. Ben Davies will wear the captain’s armband.

        55. Türkiye have made eight changes to the team that beat Germany in a friendly match at the weekend with Abdülkerim Bardakcı, İsmail Yüksek and Ferdi Kadıoğlu the only players to keep their places.

        56. Cymru have made three changes to their starting XI with Tom Lockyer replacing Chris Mepham (suspended) in defence, Nathan Broadhead is preferred up front instead of Kieffer Moore and David Brooks makes way for Brennan Johnson.

        57. How will this story end?
          Let’s find out.

        59. This is the first meeting between Cymru and Türkiye on Welsh soil since 1996. That game ended as a goalless draw in December 1996 in a FIFA World Cup qualifier.

        60. Gêm 707 is a big one.

        64. As we go into the final round of fixtures tonight, here are the qualifying permutations for the group.

          • Türkiye have qualified.
          • Croatia will qualify if they win against Armenia, or if Cymru do not beat Türkiye
          • Cymru will qualify if they beat Türkiye and Croatia do not beat Armenia.
          • Armenia cannot finish in the top two.
          • Latvia cannot finish in the top two.

        66. A familiar theme across the back pages in Wales this morning as manager Rob Page makes his point clear ahead of tonight’s EURO 2024 qualifier against Türkiye.

        68. Cymru manager Rob Page also spoke to the media yesterday and was keen to dismiss any talk of the play-offs while automatic qualification for EURO 2024 remains a possibility.

          “If we’re talking play-offs, we may as well call the game off on Tuesday. That’s our mentality and attitude. The campaign is not over. If you’d have seen training, you will see the players don’t believe it’s over. We’re fully focused on the job we’ve got and we don’t want any regrets when that final whistle goes.

          “We want to take control of ourselves and the last thing is not give the level of performance we did against Croatia and the result has gone for us elsewhere. That would be a devastating blow to take.

          “The new manager has had an instant impact, he’s slightly changed the way they play since we played them, and the result against Germany was very impressive. It will be a tough game, but we have a plan that will create problems for them and it will make for an entertaining game.”

        70. Cymru captain Ben Davies spoke to the media on Monday afternoon ahead of the crucial EURO 2024 qualifier against Türkiye in Cardiff this evening.

          Rob Page’s side must win and then hope that Armenia take points off Croatia in Zagreb to achieve automatic qualification for the finals in Germany next summer. Any other outcome means that Cymru will take part in the play-offs for the final three places at EURO 2024 in March.

          “We’re frustrated, we’d like to be in a different position, but we are where we are,” said Davies. “We can’t affect that now and it’s about giving all we’ve got in one last game and hope things go our way. Playing in major tournaments for your country is the pinnacle and that dream is still there.

          “Wales isn’t the biggest country, we have probably punched above our weight for a long time, and when you do expectations are in front of you, people expect more out of you. But we’re still in with a shout of qualification, it isn’t doom and gloom just yet. If we don’t go through now we still have a chance of the play-offs because of past success. We’re not panicking as a group, we still have a chance.

          “To qualify for three of the last four tournaments and still have the opportunity of qualifying for a fourth, we’re not a million miles away. As a group that’s something we should be proud of. It wasn’t something we did as a one-off, we maintained that success and want to keep it going.

          “We’ve got a massive game and football throws out some strange things sometimes and hopefully it can go our way. We’ve put in some amazing performances in Cardiff over the years, and we’ve had some special nights there. We have to hope we can do again.

          “We can only control what ‘s in our control. On the night we’ll have to hope that some things go our way but we can’t give up hope. Our job is pretty simple, we have to win our game, that’s our focus. Whatever happens elsewhere will happen, but it’s down to us first and foremost.”

        72. Cymru head into Tuesday’s EURO 2024 qualifier against Türkiye with the historical statistical advantage with four wins and a draw from their eight previous fixtures.

          Nick Deacy scored the only goal when the two nations met for the first time at Wrexham in November 1978. Türkiye then won a ten-goal thriller 6-4 in Istanbul back in August 1997, while Cymru manager Rob Page actually made his senior debut against Türkiye when the two teams drew 0-0 the year before.

          The last Cymru victory over Türkiye took place in Baku, Azerbaijan in June 2021 as Cymru claimed a decisive 2-0 victory in the group stages of the EURO finals through goals from Aaron Ramsey and Connor Roberts. However, Türkiye would avenge that defeat by the same scoreline in the current qualifying campaign through goals from Umut Nayir and Arda Güler in June (below).

        74. Cymru manager Rob Page cut a frustrated figure as he reflected on the 1-1 draw with Armenia in his post-match press conference as the focus quickly turned to the final qualifier against Türkiye in Cardiff on Tuesday night (7.45pm).

          “Unfortunately it’s now out of our control,” said Page. “With a win, we’d all have been buzzing and looking forward to the game on Tuesday and a [further] win would have seen us qualify. It’s not materialised as we’d like but that’s life and we have to get on with it.

          “It’s about building momentum and, if it’s a play-off in March, it’s a play-off in March. If results go for us, we’ve still got an opportunity to qualify. We can only control what we can do, get the players in the right frame of mind, mentally and physically ready for Tuesday.

          “We need to finish the campaign on a high. It’s important to have some momentum if there is a play-off in March.”

        75. Qualification for EURO 2024 is now out of Cymru’s hands heading into the final round of Group D fixtures on Tuesday night.

          A 1-1 draw for Cymru against Armenia in Yerevan was followed by Croatia’s 2-0 win over Latvia which moved them back into second place. Rob Page’s side must now beat Türkiye in Cardiff and hope that Armenia can claim a victory over Croatia in Zagreb. If this does not happen, then attentions will turn to the play-offs in March.

          However, Armenia have claimed four points off Cymru, while Cymru have taken four points off Croatia to show just how open and competitive this group has been. Meanwhile, Türkiye have already qualified for the finals that will take place in Germany next summer.

        76. There is no live report available for this match

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                Match Info

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