By: Felix Xie
The Turkey bench celebrated a 2-1 victory that guaranteed their place in the knockout stages of the Euro 2024. Turkish attacker Cenk Tosun completed a seven-on-four counterattack in injury time to win the game.
That is only a snapshot of the mayhem. By the end of the game, Istvan Kovacs, a Romanian referee, had issued a total of 18 cards, comfortably eclipsing the previous record of 10 cards. Of the 18 cards, 16 were yellow, and 2 were red.
When the game started, things were going well for the Czech Republic, who had successfully discombobulated Turkey’s condescending midfield technicians with a full-court press system.
However, in the 11th minute, Kovacs gave out a yellow card to Czech player Antonin Barak for dragging down Turkish player Ferdi Kadioglu.
Barak should have realized the card as a cue to play safe for the rest of the game and not risk tackles; however, the 29-year-old was having none of it.
After deftly sidestepping Ismail Yuksek’s challenge in the 20th minute, Barak found himself rapidly surrounded by two Turkey midfield players close to the halfway line.
When the ball started to leave Barak, he stuck out his foot in a desperate attempt to regain it from his rival, Sahil Ozcan.
Unfortunately, Ozcan won the race, and Barak inadvertently stepped on his foot, leaving him injured and writhing in a heap on the grass. After initially giving Turkey the advantage, Kovacs stopped play for a foul and gave Barak his second yellow card, which caused the earliest dismissal in Euro history. Former France defender Eric Abidal, who was sent off after 24 minutes against Italy at Euro 2008, held the previous record against Italy at Euro 2008.
Pundits and commentators were divided over the decision, with Andros Townsend as an example of a UK broadcaster ITV who felt he had been treated unfairly.
“This one was even more baffling. He’s in possession of the ball; he taps it away,” said Townsend. “It’s his follow-through that catches the Turkish player. You can always slow it down and freeze-frame it, but ultimately, he’s in possession of the ball.”
By the time stoppage time started at the end of the game, 14 yellows and 1 red had already set a new record. It easily surpassed the previous high of 10 cards. But the real drama started when Tosun grabbed the winning shot.
Turkey’s raucous celebrations at the final whistle proved too much for the Czech Republic players. Tomas Soucek of West Ham was the first to object to Orkun Kokcu’s fist pumping in the middle of the pitch.
Not long after, coaches and players from the sidelines sprinted onto the field to get involved in a brawl that started close to the halfway line.
Kovacs gave a red card to Viktoria Plzen striker Tomas Chory, his second of the evening, for getting into a physical altercation with Turkey’s top goalkeeper, Mert Gunok.
Arda Guler, the sensational attacker from Turkey who scored six goals in ten league games for Real Madrid last season, and Soucek received yellow cards as the referee found it difficult to maintain control over the situation.
This game probably had minimal football-related significance. However, it now holds a unique place in European history because of its magnificent lawlessness, particularly in its final moments.