In a match that saw Turkey dominate for large periods, it's visiting Croatia who go into halftime a happy side - they notched inside two minutes and then doubled their lead half an hour later. Vedran Corluka was the man who did most of the work for the opener, capitalising on an awful piece of defending by Gokhan Gonul to square the ball for Iviva Olic to sweep home, and he was probably responsible for the second after allowing a ball to bounce in the area, a sequence which eventually resulted in Darijo Srna swinging in a cross for Mario Mandzukic to nod past Volkan Demirel at the far post.
In between, well, Croatia barely had the ball. Turkey were using their 3-man midfield to full effect, avoiding Luka Modric as much as possible and keeping possession for long spells, restricting their visitors to the occasional counterattack. After the second goal, however, things have been very different - Croatia are in total control of this match and fixture and should probably have scored a third just before halftime, when Olic failed to convert a one-on-one against Demirel to make it 3-0.
Still, you'd have to imagine that Slaven Bilic is pretty happy with 2-0.
We'll have live coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.
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