Euro 2008 Team Profile: Turkey

Group A: Portugal, Czech Republic, Switzerland

Nickname: Crescent-Stars (see crest)

Jerseys: Red with a dash of white.

FIFA World Ranking: 25th (as of May 2008)

Coach: Fatih Terim

Know as “Imparator”, Terim was a solid central defender in his day. He played 11 seasons for Galatasaray and earned 51 caps for the national team, 35 with the armband. Yet his managerial style is anything but defensive. The man plays an attacking aggressive game that makes for great viewing.

After cutting his teeth with Göztepe and Ankaragücü, Terim was named Turkey U-21 boss and senior team assistant coach in 1990, before taking over the big job in 1993.

While in charge he qualified Turkey for their first ever European Championships: Euro ‘96 in England. The actual tournament part didn’t go so well, but getting there was a big deal. Terim left to take over at Galatasaray, where he won four consecutive titles and the 2000 UEFA Cup (still the only Turkish club to take a European honour.)

Terim’s subsequent spell in Serie A was brief, but made an impression. He fell out with the higher-ups at Fiorentina and didn’t get results at Milan. So in 2002 he went back to Galatasaray, but that didn’t work out either. He resigned in 2004 and put his managerial feet up for a while…

… until the national team came calling again in 2005 and Terim answered once more. And he very nearly took Turkey to World Cup 2006, losing a playoff to Switzerland on away goals. You can’t get much closer to the World Cup without actually going. But Terim got the team to Euro 2008 and has plenty of talent at his disposal for a second crack at the European Championships.

Captain: Well, it was Hakan Şükür, but not now. Terim left the legendary Galatasaray striker out of his squad. So captain for Euro 2008 will be another living legend: goalkeeper Rüştü Reçber.

History: Turkey have made just two trips to the Euros: ‘96 and 2000. In 1996 they lost all three group games without scoring a goal. Needless to say, they didn’t make the knockouts. 2000 was much better: one win, one draw and one defeat was enough to make the quarterfinals, where they lost 2-0 to Portugal.

Better was to come at World Cup 2002, where Turkey went all the way to semis before losing ti Brazil. Turkey won the third place playoff to take bronze, a game in which Hakan Şükür scored the fastest World Cup goal in history. That high was tempered by failure to qualify for the next two tournaments, as Turkey missed out on Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006 by losing playoff games to Latvia and Switzerland respectively. The latter ended with a spot of fan violence, probably caused by playoff loss related frustration, which meant Turkey’s 2008 campaign had to begin on neutral ground.

Expectations: Group A could be a lot worse. Portugal should be strong, Czech Republic will be no pushovers and Switzerland are hosting, but Turkey are more than capable of taking points from any of those games. Turkish football’s on a bit of a high after Fenerbahnce’s Champions League quarter-final run. While Sukur’s exclusion came as a shock, it also sends a message that Turkey has plenty of other players besides Kral. Just because he’s the most famous doesn’t mean he’s still the best, and Terim has tried to pick an in-form squad. Not sure how realistic lifting the trophy is for Turkey, but a place in the quarter-finals and beyond is a definite possibility.

Key Players: Nihat Kahveci is always amongst the goals. The stocky little striker has been scoring regularly in La Liga in recent years, first with Real Sociedad and since 2006 with Villarreal. Here’s some ball-in-net Nihat action, set to Prodigy.

Tuncay Şanlı has brought some flair to to North-East of England with his displays for Middlesbrough this season, and his role as either attacking mid or forward will be important. Then there’s fellow North-Easterner Emre Belözoğlu of Newcastle United, who’s got a left foot to be afraid of, the Germany based Altintop twins Halil and Hamit. And list line of defence will be former Barcelona keeper Rüştü Reçber, now with Beşiktaş. The 35 year old has 128 caps so far, more than any other Turkish international.

Squad: TBA

Team Blogger: Musab is in charge of the Turkey team blog.

Random international moments:

The goal that won the World Cup quarterfinal in 2002. Turkey would lose to Brazil in the semis, but take bronze in the third place playoff.

Sukur’s record breaking goal in the World Cup 2002 third place playoff vs South Korea. 10.8 seconds from kick off to goal.

Beating Greece 4-1 in Euro 2008 qualifying, away from home.