|
Turkey’s qualification for the Euro 2008 was a close-run, but they eventually secured a second place in qualifying Group C behind Greece, and one point in front of Norway.
A dramatic victory in a must-win match in Norway, followed by a win against ailing Bosnia-Herzegovina gave them a place in the finals.
Turkey will compete in Group A alongside the Czech Republic, Portugal and co-hosts Switzerland, and will start their campaign against Portugal on June 7th in Geneva.
The team:
For the goalkeeper’s position, Turkey coach Fatih Terim will have to choose between veteran Rustu Recber (Besiktas), Fenerbahce’s Volkan Demirel or Tolga Zengin (Besiktas), with Demirel being the front-runner for the position.
The defence being the weakest part of the Turkish team, suffered most of the changes by the May 28 deadline. Servet Cetin (Galatasaray), Golkan Zan (Besiktas), managed to keep their place. Bayern Munich's Hamit Altintop has recovered from a broken foot he suffered during the friendly against Belarus on March 26th.
Emre Gungor (Galatasaray), Emre Asik (Ankaraspor), and Sabri Sarioglu (Galatasaray) also made the final line-up.
For the midfield Terim has opted for Emre Belozoglu (Newcastle), wingers Gokdeniz Karadeniz (Rubin Kazan), Arda Turan (Galatasaray) as well as Tumer Metin (Larissa). Hakan Balta, Mehmed Topal, Mehmed Aurelio, Ugur Boral, tuncay Sanli and Ayhan Akman also made the 23-men line-up.
Veteran striker Hakan Sukur (Galatasaray), who had 6 goals in qualifying, has been left out from the final squad. Nihat Kahveci (Villarreal), Semih Senturk (Fenerbahce), Kazim Kazim (Fenerbahce), and Mevlut Erdinc(Sochaux) will complete the attack.
Coach Profile:
A Galatasaray defender in his youth, Fatih Terim took over the helm of the Turkish national team for the second time in 2005. He also led Turkey to the Euro ‘96 in England where they lost all the games, but just getting there for the first time in their history was a major success.
After the tournament, he took over Galatasaray and won four titles in Turkey as well as the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup. He also had spells at Fiorentina and AC Milan. Chelsea have reportedly shown interest for his services after this year’s tournament.
Team record:
This will be Turkey’s 3rd appearance at the European Championships after qualifying for the tournament in ‘96 and 2000. Their best result was reaching the quarter-finals at the Euro 2000 in Belgium and Netherlands.
They have also had 2 appearances at the World Cup, with their best result being third place in 2002 in Japan and South Korea.
Sources: Turkish Soccer Federation, UEFA, FIFA, Euro 2008
|
