A doff of the proverbial cap is most definitely due to the Turkish national amputee team, the new champions of Europe.
The Turks registered a 2-1 win over England in the European Amputee Football Federation Championship final in front of tens of thousands of fans at Besiktas’ Vodafone Arena in Istanbul.
Vodafone Park’ta tribunlerden ışık şov. İyi oyun taraftarları coşturdu… pic.twitter.com/1u30tWN0Oy
— Futbol Arena (@futbolarena) October 9, 2017
Many fans attended the match in semi-protest over the increasingly fractured state of the full senior Turkish national side, who saw their World Cup qualification aspirations come to a dismal end against Iceland last Friday night.
VIDEO — Ömer Güleryüz scores the opener for the Turkish national amputee football team in the final against Englandhttps://t.co/jMYAQKh6yR pic.twitter.com/9UNI8xJ14X
— DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) October 9, 2017
Still, the near-capacity crowd in Istanbul ended the evening chanting “Turkey is proud of you” at their new heroes, with a goal apiece from Omer Guleryuz and captain Osman Cakmak ensuring an emotional victory on home soil.
Türkiye Avrupa Şampiyonu🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷
Helal olsun, sizinle gurur duyuyoruz pic.twitter.com/YjPw6dk2Gn— Ersin Düzen (@ersinduzen) October 9, 2017
England, it should be said, gave a good account of themselves throughout the tournament, but Turkey – who registered an 8-0 win over Germany, a 9-0 win over Georgia, a 4-0 win over Spain and then an impressive 2-1 last-four win over hotly-tipped Russia on their way to the final – proved to be a hurdle too far for the Three Lions.
Well played chaps! Well played indeed.