Armenia surprise Turkey in Yerevan
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
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Armenia 2-1 Turkey
Last-gasp goals from Karlen Mkrtchyan and Henrik Mkhitaryan denied Turkey a move to the top of qualifying Group 2.
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Aerial presence
With Turkey needing three points to leapfrog the Czech Republic and take pole position in the race for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship play-offs, the visitors did their best to exploit the physical presence of Mehmet Batdal, aiming a series of crosses at the tall striker. Batdal had one effort ruled out for offside, while at the other end Gevorg Kazaryan and Ogannes Goaryan missed good chances before Onur Recep Kıvrak made a great save to deny Artur Stepanyan from close range just before the interval.
Shock winner
The keeper foiled Mkhitaryan in a one-on-one situation after half-time, and it looked like Armenia would pay for their profligacy as a blunder from full-back Mikheil Simonyan left Turkey in a great situation, with Abdullah Durak breaking the deadlock on 70 minutes. However, to the delight of a 12,000-strong crowd at the Hrazdan Stadium in Yerevan, Mkrtchyan finished from a Goaryan free-kick one minute from time, with Mkhitaryan atoning for his earlier miss in added time by beating Onur for a shock winner.