(22) Turkey-Denmark

 

Highlights

Report

Denmark had to win, and hope Croatia would also defeat Portugal to have any chance of progression, but the Croats went 0-1 down in the first five minutes and ultimately lost by three. Turkey-Denmark was then in effect a 'third place playoff', and actually the playing of the match did indeed resemble a (World Cup) match between the losing semifinals. Referee Nikolaj Levnikov found himself in a virtually identical situation as Bernd Heynemann in Group D's parallel game, knowing that his chances of progression in Euro'96 were quite low, but his international future was 'on the line'. Levnikov went to the next World Cup and did knockout matches in the next four seasons of the Champions League, and that wouldn't have been possible had he messed this game up. The Russian didn't stand out in terms of charisma/athletics, but his style orientated around making intelligent decisions and in this match of moderate difficulty, he did well overall, with the exception of one situation at the end of the game when everything was decided.

There are three situations to pick out from the game's officiating:

1) Levnikov justifiably awarded an indirect freekick to Denmark in Turkey's penalty area for foot-up.

2) In the last minute of the game, Rustu should have been sent off for handling outside his penalty area (deliberateness of the offence should outweigh any doubts about control of the ball but if you read the flight of the ball, was extremely likely that Denmark would have scored). Having sent the goalkeeper off, Levnikov would have confirmed a clear ‘expected level’ performance, but in the event of showing a yellow card, the Russian's rating should drop down a grade (I do not believe though it was a clear match error).

3) The match was very challenging for both linesmen (most difficult of the whole group stage), and while many situations weren't replayed, it seemed that both assistants did well. The most important call came to Sergej Fursa on the near side, denying Turkey their only goal of the tournament, and was well-seen.

Matchsheet

Nikolaj Levnikov - 6 Sergej Fursa - 7 Sergej Francuzov - 7 Sergej Chusainov (assessor: soriano)	Turkey 0-3 Denmark Weds 19June 430pm, Sheffield Group Stage
Tur  Tugay (44') - Challenge  Tayfun (61') - Challenge  Rüştü (90') - SPA (Handball)	Den  Helveg (57') - SPA (Challenge)  Larsen (81') - Challenge