Turkey’s Time to Turn a Trick?
Volkan Agir
The Turkish national team has not got a history of success in the international arena, with their first qualification for the World Cup coming in 1954. In 1958 they qualified again but the government declared that they could not afford the money for travelling, and the team withdrew.
The first time Turkey qualified for the European Championship finals was in 1996. Quite possibly the greatest achievement of the national team was the 3rd place finish in the World Cup of 2002, unfortunately since then things have gone downhill. An unlucky defeat in the playoff games aginst Switzerland for the 2006 World Cup means Turkey is looking forward to 2008 with great anticipation.
Everybody thought that Turkey would qualify easily when the qualifying groups were drawn. But football is a game which is open to surprise results, like the games against Bosnia and Malta, after a 1-4 win against Greece in Athens. With points dropped in suprising fashion, the Turkish team found themselves in third position in the group before the last two games. Turkey’s coach Fatih Terim faced the prospect of going out and managed the team to two excellent victories against Norway and Bosnia and qualified in second place after Greece.
Squad
During the qualification games Terim used a large amount of players, the number is almost 30, maybe more than that. This makes choosing the team harder for Terim and his asisstants. There was great speculation and excitement over who exactly would make the Euro 2008 squad, and Terim declared his initial 27 players at midnight right after Turkcell Super Lig finished. Lets take a look at the team position by poisition.
Goalkeepers: Rüştü Reçber (Beşiktaş), Volkan Demirel (Fenerbahçe) , Tolga Zengin (Trabzonspor)
Before the declaration it was obvious Rüştü and Volkan would be selected because they were always in the team when fit in the qualification games. Rüştü is the player who plays most for the national team. His selection cannot be argued against, and he was chosen as the second best goalkeeper in the 2002 World Cup. Volkan has been involved with the national team since 2004. He was also the goalkeeper of the U-21 National team. He put in a big performance in the Champions League against Chelsea and can be relied upon if needed.
Tolga Zengin is the surprising name in the squad. The 25 year-old goalkeeper played 22 games for Trabzonspor this year. Some people said that Galatasaray goalkeeper Aykut Erçetin should be in the squad instead of Tolga, but Terim must see potential in Tolga.
Defenders: Servet Çetin, Emre Güngör, Sabri Sarıoğlu, Hakan Balta, Emre Aşık (Galatasaray) Gökhan Gönül, Uğur Boral (Fenerbahçe) İbrahim Kaş (Getafe), Gökhan Zan (Beşiktaş)
The strongest and most deserving name here is Servet Çetin. He played 54 games with Galatasaray and Turkey this season, whilst also being the most capped player in qualification. Servet was injured in the last game of the Super Lig but most believe he will be fit for the Euros.
Right after he was transfered to Galatasaray as the replacement for Rigobert Song, who was at the African Nations Cup, he improved himself very quickly and sent Song to the bench upon his return. I’m talking about Emre Güngör who has been added to the squad because of Servet’s injury. But in my opinion he should be in the first eleven with Servet, simply because they were the best defensive duo in the Super Lig. Being familiar with each other in the middle of the defence is something that should not be underestimated.
Emre Aşık is the most experienced defender from those chosen. The 34 year-old is very good in the air, and also very agressive in his play. He is an extremely capable back-up and Faith Terim has every faith in him.
Gökhan Zan is the most surprising name for me in the squad. He was injured for most of the season and when he played for Beşiktaş he seemed to be more interested in arguing with the referee than helping the defence. That is the reason Beşiktaş are still looking for a defender. How could Terim choose him when his team doesn’t trust him?
Sabri Sarıoğlu and İbrahim Kaş are the right-backs of the team. Sabri is being scouted by Italian teams. He is a pacey, powerful player, but he needs to improve his crosses. Sabri can also play on the right wing, so don’t be surprised if you see him pop up there during the tournament.
İbrahim Kaş is the weakest player in this position, simply because he was playing in the centre of the defence for Beşiktaş’s youth team. Ibrahim probably won’t play in this tournament but it is going to be good experience for him.
Hakan Balta and Uğur Boral are the left-backs of the team, and many say this will be the weakest position for the team if Uğur Boral starts in the first eleven. He is an attacking winger, and his defensive attributes are weak even if his pace, power and crossing ability has its advantages. This is why Hakan Balta could be in the first eleven with his defensive attributes although he is a little slow for a wing player.
Midfielders: Mehmet Topal, Ayhan Akman, Arda Turan (Galatasaray), Marco Aurelio, Kazım Richards (Fenerbahçe), Emre Belözoğlu(Newcastle United), Tuncay Şanlı (Middlesbrough), Hamit Altintop(Bayern Münich),Yıldıray Baştürk(Stuttgart), Tümer Metin(Larissa), Gökdeniz Karadeniz (Rubin Kazan)
Midfield is the strongest position for Turkey and the team have so many versatile players.
Tuncay could be a nightmare for opposing teams and although he started the season with Middlesbrough in bad form, he scored eight goals after adapting to the Premier League.
Yıldıray Baştürk spent his most this season sidelined through injury but his last few performances were good and offer hope for the Euros.
Newcastle midfielder Emre has also had his injuries this year, but he is the man of Terim ever since their Galatasaray days, so is sure to be a key man.
Hamit is going to be the powerful gun for the team if he can find his form in the championship. His pacey play and thundering shots can trouble even the best defences.
Tümer is also a key man for Terim after he won Terim’s trust through good displays in the last three games qualification games for the 2006 World Cup.
Gökdeniz Karadeniz is the best winger in the midfield. He is the speedy player in the team and his crosses to the six yard box are very dangerous. He showed at Rubin Kazan he could score too.
Arda Turan is the shining star of this year’s Super Lig. He brought the title to the Galatasaray with his brilliant performance in the game against title rivals Sivasspor. After Euro 2008 he could leave Galatasaray for a big European giant.
Mehmet Topal and Ayhan Akman were called up due to their performances in the last part of the Super Lig season. Their balanced game in the middle of the Galatasaray team helped them to the title.
Marco Aurelio is the player who already has a place in the first eleven, and this is shown by the fact that Terim constantly preferred him in the qualification games.
Strikers: Nihat Kahveci(Villareal FC) , Halil Altintop (Schalke 04) ,Semih Şentürk (Fenerbahçe) , Mevlüt Erdinç (Sochaux)
Between the four of them Nihat Kahveci’s place is already secure in the team with his performances at Villarreal. He is a key reason Villarreal finished second in La Liga. Nihat also helped the team to Euro 2008 with his goals in the vital last two Norway and Bosnia games.
Halil is something of an unknown quantity for all Turkey supporters, because he couldn’t live up to the hype in the qualification games.
Semih Şentürk finished as this season’s top scorer in the Super Lig with 17 goals. He is the surprise name in the squad with Mevlüt Erdinç. Semih scored most of his goals coming off the bench late in the game, it is likely he will be used like this again at the Euros.
Mevlüt is a hot prospect for the future, and playing in the low scoring French league has already managed 11 goals.
My Possible First Eleven:
Rüştü Reçber (GK)
Sabri Sarıoğlu (DR)
Servet Çetin (DC)
Emre Güngör (DC)
Hakan Balta (DL)
Mehmet Topal (MC)
Hamit Altintop (MC)
Emre Belözoğlu (MC)
Nihat Kahveci (AMR)
Arda Turan (AML)
Tuncay Şanlı (ST)
Coach
Fatih Terim is the most succesful manager in Turkey. He started his football career with Adana Demirspor. In 1974 he transfered to Galatasaray and played 327 games in 11 seasons for them. 2 years after he retired, he started his coaching career with Ankaragücü and continued with Göztepe. In 1990 he became the manager of the U-21 national team and became the senior team manager after Sepp Piontek in 1993. In 1996 he qualified the team to the European Championships in England. After his national career he enjoyed success with Galatasaray, winning four titles in a row and the UEFA Cup.
Terim became the first Turkish manager to work in Italy having spells with Fiorentina and AC Milan. A short spell back at Galatasaray followed but he could not replicate the success of earlier years.
Fatih Terim declared that he is going the play a 4-3-3 formation in the tournament and he is trying to build a team which can play with pace and power, pressing the opposition for 90 minutes. "We are going to the Euro 2008 Championship to remind Europe and the world that we are still here!” said Terim.
Group Stage
We are not in the easiset group, but all the teams begin with an equal chance to proceed. With Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal already have an advantage and I think they have qualified already. The fight for second place will be very close but I think Czech Rebuplic are the weakest team in the group. They are here without Pavel Nedved and Tomas Rosicky, and both these are a big loss for the side, Jan Koller’s Nürnberg were relegated, and Milan Baros is not playing so well. Their strongest position is defence with Petr Cech.
Switzerland and us have an equal team in terms of quality I think. That match is going to be very entertaining and I hope we will win against them but also that there won’t be violence in or after the game as happened in 2006.
View from the Country
Expectations are high in Turkey for a number of reasons. Firstly, the national side has a number of players excelling in big leagues abroad, and secondly, Fenerbahce’s run to the latter stages of this year’s Champions League has led many to believe Turkish players can do well at the highest level.
Writer’s Verdict
We should play like Fatih Terim said in upper pharagraphs but i want to add something. We should play a well-disciplined game and not give the ball away so often. Our defence also needs to be well drilled to deal with crosses and set pieces as it is our biggest weakness. We also have enough players with strong shots that we should try to score from outside the area instead of trying to pass the ball into the goal.
We need to control our emotions a little better, especially in games of high importance. A repeat of the violence against Switzerland could see us banned from European competition, it’s that serious! In my opinion if we get one point from Portugal, we could qualify for the next round. If we don’t, then we must take as much experience from the tournament as possible.
