David Marshall's Euro Diary 5 - Quit Jivin' Turkey! (Patreon)

I am still very unwell. There will be no Pedro Plan this week for I have no voice. That’s not technically true, I have a voice that sounds like a very camp Barney the Dinosaur has swallowed a pool ball. I can still do this though, I have literally dragged myself out of my sick bed to write up day 5. So be nice!

Only two games today, which I still find rude, but what a game we got in the 5pm kick-off. Turkey and Georgia served up a fantastic spectacle, even before the game when the two sets of fans decided to kick the shit out of each other. Which, of course, we don’t like to see.

When the football got going it was Turkey who started the strongest and Mert Muldur covered the tournament’s quota for at least one absolute worldie per game. A stunning strike from the right back and you could be forgiven for thinking that Turkey would see this one out quite comfortably.

Georgia, however, fought back and were level again within seven minutes. A smart, quick finish from Georges Mikautadze as he scored his country’s first goal at a major tournament. It was a clever finish, but I think the goalkeeper has to do better, he’s in a good position and he lets the ball get underneath him.

This seemed to rattle the Turks, despite being in control up to this point. I think they would have been quite happy to get to half-time and regroup. They emerged after the break and looked strong again and got their reward through a stunning strike from 19-year-old Arda Güler from Real Madrid. Firstly, what a goal. Secondly, with the talent that Real Madrid has at the moment, the rest of Europe might as well call it quits for the next five years or so.

Georgia to their credit did not quit and Kochorashvili hit the bar before missing another late on. Then, in scenes we do like to see, the ‘keeper got pushed up the park. Saves were made, shots blocked off the line, but eventually, Turkey broke to score a third into an empty net to finally serve Georgia their dinner.

This match was just fantastic, I would have been quite happy if we had given them the hour break and sent them back out for another 90 minutes. In Turkey, have we found the true dark horse for us to rest our saddle on? Time will tell for this cowboy.

We then finish the evening with Portugal vs Czechia. Right, what is with these countries changing their names? When did Turkey become Türkiye? When did the Czech Republic become Czechia? And why did no one tell me about Yugoslavia? I’ll be cold in the ground before I recognize North Macedonia!

Anyway, this was definitely the weaker of the two games today. Although, it would have to be some match to beat what came before it. Portugal controlled the majority of play in the first half without making the breakthrough. I wouldn’t say Czechia were completely sitting back but you got the feeling they would be happy with a draw from this one.

Then, of course, the one belter quota was filled by Czechia via a lovely strike from outside the box by Lukáš Provod. Not to bring the mood down, but how refreshing is it as Rangers fans to watch players shoot from outside the box and be good at it!

Portugal were in a bit of trouble now as they went looking for an equaliser but they got a big help from Czech goalie Jindrich Stanek. He made the strange decision to, rather than catching the ball, bounce it off the shins of Robin Hranac and into the net. Look, I know it was wet and slippy out there, but you need to hold onto that ball there. Poor, poor goalkeeping.

It looked like the Czechs were going to hold on for a draw when Diogo Jota had a potential winner ruled out by VAR for offside. But the winning goal finally came in the 92nd minute courtesy of Francisco Conceição.

Job done by Portugal, but as we head into the second round of games I want to see some of the bigger teams lay down a marker as potential winners. Listen, we all enjoy the novelty of the slugs, like Scotland, but let’s see the big boys start whipping it out on the table and get this thing measured up.

Day Six tomorrow and I give myself a 50/50 chance of making it through the night, so all going well, I will talk to you again tomorrow.