Turkey-Czech Rep

UEFA EURO 2008 GROUP A
Date: Sun 15 June Kick-off: 1945 BST Venue: Stade de Geneve, Geneva

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Turkey boss Fatih Terim is likely to name the same XI that beat Switzerland last time out in the winner-takes-all Group A match with the Czech Republic.

With both sides on three points and Portugal having already secured top spot in the group, the victor will go into the quarter-finals as runners-up.

And for the first time in a European Championship, a shoot-out will decide who progresses if the match is drawn.

The Czechs could partner Milan Baros with Jan Koller in a 4-4-2 line-up.

That would mean Karel Brueckner abandoning his traditional 4-5-1 formation following an unconvincing win over Switzerland and a 3-1 defeat to Portugal.

Keeper Petr Cech insists the side can put their patchy form at the start of the campaign behind them and progress to the last eight.

"It doesn't matter how we played before or how they played before, now it's another game, another occasion," he said. "Everything is at stake. Only one of us can advance and that's how we have to take it."


And having lost to Italy, the eventual champions, in a must-win last group game at the 2006 World Cup, Cech is desperate to avoid a repeat, saying: "I don't want to experience such a disappointment again."

Turkey midfielder Hamit Altintop, however, has warned the Czechs that history will have no relevance to the tie, adding his team's improved self-belief can carry them through.

"We did not lose our faith or let ourselves down, although we were 1-0 down by half-time (in their 2-1 win over Switzerland)," Altintop said.

"Now, with the morale we have, you must believe that we will have a good result in the game against the Czech Republic and get to the quarter-finals."


BIG MATCH STATS
Head-to-heads
Turkey and Czech Republic have met each other on 14 previous occasions with Czech Republic winning 10 times and Turkey once.

Czech Republic are unbeaten in 11 consecutive encounters with Turkey (nine wins and two draws).

This will be their first meeting at a European Championship.

Head to head records and significant meetings

Team facts - Turkey

Wednesday's 2-1 win against Switzerland was only Turkey's second victory in nine European Championship matches.

Since the introduction of the knock-out stages in 1984, seven teams have survived the group stage after losing their opening match. Turkey achieved this feat at Euro 2000, where they reached the quarter-final despite losing their opening match of the tournament.

Team facts - Czech Republic

Since the introduction of the knock-out stages in 1984, there have been seven occasions on which a team failed to qualify for the next round despite winning the first group match.

Nations failing to qualify despite winning first match

Wednesday's 3-1 defeat to Portugal ended a streak of six straight wins in competitive matches and an unbeaten run of eight matches.

A penalty shoot-out could be necessary to decide who qualifies for the next round. Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic have been involved in three penalty shoot-outs in European Championships, winning all three. They beat West Germany in the 1976 final, Italy in the 1980 bronze medal match and France in the 1996 semi-final.

Player facts - Turkey

Tuncay Sanli, Mehmet Aurelio, Hakan Balta, Gokhan Zan, Colin Kazim-Richards and Sabri Sarioglu will miss a possible quarter-final match if they receive a yellow card.

Player facts - Czech Republic

Libor Sionko has scored three goals in the Czech Republic's last three matches. He scored twice in their warm-up friendly against Scotland (3-1) and also scored in the 3-1 defeat against Portugal.

Jan Polak is the only Czech player with a yellow card behind his name.

Miscellaneous Info

Referee Peter Frojdfeldt has been in charge of one match involving Turkey. In June 2007 he led their European Championship qualifier against Bosnia-Herzegovina, which Turkey lost 3-2.