Tuncay Sanli led the Turkish efforts to overturn the first leg result of the European Zone World Cup 2006 Playoff against Switzerland. Turkey narrowly missed their ticket to the World Cup in Germany, even though they were behind from the 2nd minute of the game. It was a spectacular game of football with Switzerland in the finale to the World Cup 2006 playoffs, but Sanli's hat-trick was still not enough for the Turks to progress.

After all the pre-match tension the crucial return leg finally kicked off with a very unfortunate penalty given against Turkey in the 1st minute, when Alpay Ozalan handled the ball inside the penalty box. Switzerland's Alexander Frei had no sympathy for the Turks, and opened the scoring from the spot, sending the keeper the wrong way.

Switzerland played a great defensive system, with the Turkish strikers finding it hard to penetrate Zuberbuhler's nets, especially in the second half when Switzerland manager Kobi Kuhn saw things worsening at the back and tried to reinforce his defence.

Turkey dominated the first half with continuous efforts to penetrate the Swiss defence. Hakan Sukur led the Turkish efforts to equalise, missing a number of opportunities. Arsenal's Philippe Senderos had another impressive performance, creating opportunities and posing a real threat from his position in the Switzerland defence.

Switzerland grabbed the ticket for the Germany World Cup 2006 by scoring two vital away goals in Istanbul tonight, and gaining their World Cup berth by the aggregate score of 4-4. Marco Streller's goal 84 minutes into the game brought a dramatic end to Turkey's dreams of qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany. Tuncay and Sukur did everything they could possibly do for their team, but 4 goals were not enough to give Turkey the ticket for the World Cup 2006.

The final whistle brought unrest with the fans throwing bottles, the Swiss players running for their safety towards the tunnel and after a while the Turkish players with riot police protection running to the tunnel, scenes which were repeated in Turkey's last matches.

Turkey: Volkan, Hamit, Alpay, Tolga, Ergun, Serhat (Tumer 70), Selcuk, Emre (Yildiray 82), Tuncay, Necati (Fatih Tekke 81), Hakan

Switzerland: Zuberbuhler, Degen (Behrami 46), Muller, Senderos, Spycher, Gygax (Streller 33, Huggel 87), Vogel, Wicky, Barnetta, Cabanas, Frei

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