Northern Ireland will play in the round of 16 at the European Championship. Three hours after its 1-0 loss to Germany finished, Northern Ireland advanced when the final whistle blew on Turkey's 2-0 win over the Czech Republic.
A neat finish from Burak Yilmaz put them ahead, prompting Czech pressure which saw Tomas Sivok hit the post. Volkan Babacan made a string of saves before Ozan Tufan smashed in from 10 yards to move Turkey third in Group D.
Northern Ireland will finish among the four best third-placed teams, who will join the top two teams from each group in the knockout stages. The Northern Irish have three points with a zero goal difference, and win the tiebreaker with Turkey and Albania who have three points and a minus-2 goal difference.
Turkey is above Albania in a separate tiebreaker because it has scored more goals — two to one. The rankings of third-placed teams will be completed Wednesday when the last matches in Groups E and F are played.
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