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Istanbul draw puts England through
ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Captain David Beckham missed a first-half penalty but England still reached the finals of Euro 2004 after drawing 0-0 with Turkey to win Group Seven. England missed a string of chances, including the 37th minute spot-kick ballooned into the crowd by Beckham, who lost his footing as he struck the ball. Beckham also found the net with a late header that was ruled offside. England, who had gone into the game just three days after avoiding a player boycott, got the draw which they needed to qualify and send Turkey into the playoffs before a passionate home crowd. Turkey, beaten 2-0 by England at Sunderland in April in a qualifier marred by crowd trouble, fell well short of the attacking form which took them to the World Cup semi-finals. England had no vocal support inside the ground, with the FA having refused its ticket allocation and urged fans to stay away, amid fears for crowd safety and a potential exclusion from the tournament by UEFA. Yet the visitors, missing injured striker Michael Owen and defender Rio Ferdinand who was dropped from the squad for failing to take a drugs test, settled more quickly than their hosts. The penalty came when Tugay, who plays for Blackburn in the English Pemier League, tripped Steven Gerrard. Beckham, who had converted a pressure penalty at the 2002 World Cup to beat Argentina 1-0, slipped as he skied the ball high into the upper tier of the stands. Alpay Ozalan was quick to taunt the England skipper and also poked him in the face as the two men walked off at the break. That led to a melee in the tunnel with Italian referee Pierluigi Collina calling the captains to his room during the half-time break and telling them to calm their team mates down. "As we were walking off he went past me and clipped me around the ear," said Beckham. "He then said something about my mother but these things happen. Collina told us this game was too big and too important to be ruined by silliness." The tumultous build-up to the game at Fenerbahce's stadium also included a strike threat to try and force the re-instatement of defender Ferdinand after he missed a routine drugs test at his club Manchester United. Vilified then by sections of the press, England should return to very different treatment after chalking up their ninth successive match without defeat. Copyright 2003 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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