burak yılmaz grabs lifeline for turkey published: sunday 16 november 2014, 23.02cet turkey 3-1 kazakhstan two burak yılmaz goals helped propel turkey towards their first group a win and restore some hope of making it to uefa euro 2016.
• relief for turkey as burak yılmaz strikes twice to beat kazakhstan • having taken one point from first three games, turkey get first group a win • serdar aziz scores on his international debut • fatih terim's side make it five wins from five against kazakhstan • next games: netherlands v turkey, kazakhstan v ıceland (28 march)
burak yılmaz struck twice in the space of four first-half minutes to propel turkey towards their first uefa euro 2016 qualifying group a victory, kazakhstan unable to extend the sticky patch for fatih terim's men.
like kazkakhstan, turkey had taken just one point from their opening three games in the section, but they must have felt the weight lifting from their shoulders when burak picked himself up after being felled in the area to convert from the spot on 26 minutes. firing low into the corner of aleksandr mokin's net, the galatasaray aş man sent the goalkeeper the wrong way.
there was further indication that turkey's luck was changing on 29 minutes as mokin fumbled burak's low shot from just outside the area over the line to make it 2-0. with a little more good fortune, burak might have ended up with a hat-trick; arda turan's ball on 69 minutes left him with just the goalkeeper to beat, but mokin made amends for his earlier mistake with a save, and umut bulut fired wide from the follow-up.
ıt fell to serdar aziz to put the game out of kazakhstan's reach, the bursaspor defender marking his international debut with a headed finish from gökhan töre's corner on 83 minutes.
however, kazakhstan did not leave empty-handed. mehmet topal's foul on ulan konysbaev invited captain samat smakov to beat volkan babacan with a powerfully struck penalty, and the goalkeeper was called on again late on to save from aleksei schetkin's header.
