Turkey fire another warning with win in Austria

The Crescent-Stars, who have beaten Sweden and Austria in two consecutive friendlies, extended their unbeaten run to 13 games since their home defeat against Brazil in a friendly in November 2014



Turkey fired another warning to their Euro 2016 rivals when Arda Turan scored with a delightful lob to give them a 2-1 win away to fellow qualifiers Austria on Tuesday. Turkey, who beat Sweden by the same score on Thursday, extended their unbeaten run to 13 games since their home defeat against Brazil in a friendly in November 2014. Austria goalkeeper Ramazan Özcan, given a rare outing by coach Marcel Koller, sent a clearance straight to Turan who floated the ball back over him from 25 meters with the keeper stranded on the edge of his area 11 minutes into the second half. Koller, who rarely experiments, made four changes to his usual lineup, with Rubin Okotie replacing Marc Janko in attack.Cenk Tosun kept his place in the Turkey attack after scoring both goals against Sweden while the experimental central defensive partnership of Ahmet Çalık and Mehmet Topal came through the test. Austria, who dropped only one point in qualifying, went ahead when Zlatko Junuzovic scored from a chance set up by Marko Arnautovic in the 22nd minute. Turkey equalised two minutes before halftime with a trademark free kick from midfielder Hakan Çalhanoğlu. Turkey last met Austria in a friendly match in 2012, and Austria won 2-0. In the FIFA rankings, Turkey are in the 20th spot, while Austria are 10th. Turkey and Austria will compete in Europe's top-tier international football tournament, Euro 2016, which will be held in France from June 10 to July 10. Turkey will play against Croatia, the Czech Republic and Spain in Group D, while Austria will compete against Hungary, Iceland and the Portugal in Group F.Turkey coach Fatih Terim said, "I'm content with my team. Seriousness, enthusiasm and desire to win are very important for me. It's a very good thing to get the habit of winning. Austria are a very good team. We managed to win although we conceded the first goal of the match. We have such good players who are capable of changing the score at any minute. We are a young team and we are facing powerful teams in our friendly games. So, what's important is that our players got experience and self-confidence."Elsewhere, Germany's Joachim Loew has targeted the areas where the world champions must improve for June's European championships after their shock defeat to England and thrashing of Italy in friendlies. The Germans threw away a two-goal lead in losing 3-2 to a spirited England side in Berlin on Saturday but roared back with a 4-1 thrashing of the disappointing Italians in Munich on Tuesday. Loew knows what needs to be done before Germany's opening Euro 2016 game against Ukraine in Lille in Group C on June 12."Against England, we lost our discipline and concentration, plus our conviction in the final phase," said Loew."It was better against Italy, but there were still things we have to work on.Italy, who Germany have never beaten at a major tournament, are a possible quarter-final opponent at Euro 2016, but Loew says Tuesday night's first win over the Azzurri for 21 years has little meaning.The Azzurri coach Antonio Conte had said he expected another positive showing after Thursday's 1-1 draw against the visiting European champions, but had to admit his squad's difficulties as they gear up for Euro 2016, which opens in France on June 10. After the tests against two of the favorites, Conte said he will now evaluate his players' performance in the domestic league and issue La Nazionale's 23-man roster in mid-May.After scoring four and conceding four in two games against Germany and the Netherlands, it is obvious where England's strengths and weaknesses lie ahead of the European Championship in June. England manager Roy Hodgson is spoilt for choice as far as his attacking options go but the defence is a concern, though he was more angry at referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz for the goals they conceded in Tuesday's 2-1 loss to the Dutch at Wembley. Wayne Rooney, England's record goalscorer, is likely to be fit to join Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Daniel Sturridge and Danny Welbeck as attacking options for upcoming friendlies against Turkey, Australia and Portugal. England's opening match in the Euro 2016 tournament is against Russia in Marseille on June 11. In Latin America, Lionel Messi scored his 50th international goal to help Argentina beat Bolivia 2-0 in a 2018 World Cup qualifier on Tuesday. The win put Argentina third in the South American group with 11 points from six matches, two points behind joint leaders Ecuador and Uruguay.