Turkey 2-0 France
When the world champions come to town, people sit up and take notice.
Turkish people are passionate about football and always like to give a warmer than usual welcome to top sides at both national and international level.
That the national side has failed to qualify for the last two World Cup finals has made occasions like this Euro 2020 qualifying clash even more important.
So, Les Bleus were never going to get an easy ride as they arrived in Konya as the majority of those inside the Büyükşehir Belediyesi Stadyumu were gunning for history.
And my word, they didn’t on a night few Turkish football fans will forget in a hurry.
Highlights of the game
That’s because this was their chance to beat France for the first time in their history.
The added coup of a scalp against the world’s top team made it simply an added incentive.
Euro 2020 qualifying news saw Celta Vigo midfielder Okay Yokuslu ruled out after the knee injury that kept him out of last week’s win over Uzbekistan proved more serious than anticipated.
A knee injury also saw Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante withdraw from the French team which had lost only one of their last 15 matches in qualifying for a European Championship (10 wins, four draws), since a September 2010 defeat against Belarus.
France had warmed up for this by flexing their muscles against South American opposition and the SBOBET Euro 2020 qualifying betting odds made them clear favourites.
That is until two goals in 10 first half minutes stunned Didier Deschamps’ side.
Kaan Ayhan and Cengiz Under had Turkey in dreamland.
A well worked set piece on the half hour saw the unmarked Ayhan head in from close range after Under’s free-kick had been delivered across goal by Merih Demiral.
Ten minutes later and the party was in full swing.
Dorukhan Toköz ran at the defence before playing Ünder through. The highly rated Roma midfielder had work to do but was coolness personified, taking a superb touch before finishing past Hugo Lloris.
France were stunned and they were nearly even further behind before the break as Under delivered another set-piece, this time a corner, and Demiral peeled away at the back post and headed the ball narrowly wide.
Deschamps rang the changes at the break with Ferland Mendy and Kingsley Coman introduced but to little impact.
Indeed, Turkey’s play nullified the likes of Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann, both largely anonymous, and it took a double Lloris save – first to tip over a long-range Mahmut Tekdemir strike and then to deny Kenan Karaman at point blank range – to stop the hosts from scoring a third.
The introduction of Sevilla’s Wissam Ben Yedder, for his competitive international debut, was France’s last throw of the dice but to no avail.
Yes, France looked tired and were below par at the end of a long year.
But Turkey were terrific, outplaying the world champions in every department and thoroughly deserved this victory.
Top of Group H by three points, Under and Co have them dreaming again.
Key statistics
Turkey have conceded just one goal in their last five matches across all competitions.
That newfound defensive resolve has contributed to a five match winning run too.
This was the first time in the last 10 years that France had not managed a shot on target in a single game.
It was also the first time since June 2015 (against Belgium) they had conceded two or more goals in the first half of a match.
This was Kylian Mbappé’s 29th consecutive France appearance, the longest run of anybody since Patrick Vieira racked up 44 in a row between 1999 and 2002.
The Paris St Germain starlet lost possession 22 times against Turkey, his highest tally in a single game with France.
What’s next?
Turkey will now travel to Iceland full of confidence for their next qualifier on Tuesday (June 11).
It’s then two qualifiers in four days in September at home to Andorra (September 7) followed by a trip to Moldova.
France aren’t quite finished yet either as far as 2018/19 is concerned. They go to minnows Andorra on Tuesday.
They resume their campaign for Euro 2020 with autumnal home matches against Albania and the return fixture against Andorra.
They are still favourites to reach next summer’s tournament and go one better than they did in the Euro 2016 final.
Yet, as Deschamps noted after the match, it’s ‘back to basics’ for the world champions.
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