Four Household Names In The Waiting

These are the unheralded heroes for each team, two were pretty difficult to pick (I’ll have you guess which ones), who will make the biggest name for themselves over the next two days during the semifinals.

Fatih Terim - Turkish coach: Fatih has already had his chance at big time coaching during his first stint with the Turkish NT and Milan, but suffered some less than favorable outcomes. At Euro ‘96, despite unexpectedly making the tournament, they went 0-0-3 and failed to score a goal. Then, after stints with Galatasaray and Fiorentina, he found himself heading Il Diavolo on the red & black side of Milan. In short, that didn’t go so well.

Now Turkey has like six available players and the entire back line may be comprised of the least drunk fans hanging outside the stadium tomorrow. If they simply aren’t blown out by Germany, he’ll be on the lips of non-Turkish fans as well as the homeboys (and girls), and chances are he’ll get another big another chance at the big time. If they win……

* - Plus you get bonus points if you look like a Miami-based gangster.

Arne Friedrich - German RB: That excess bulge with pounds of dripping goop hanging out of his back pocket is Cristiano Ronaldo, who still cannot free himself from Arne. The Germans have a lot of big sexy names, but as Fabio Grosso showed in 2006, sometimes you need a bit of magic from the unsung to win tournaments. With Turkey having no one near the quality of Ronaldo, he’s going to catch some eyes and make a name for himself, and deservedly so. This tournament’s Grosso can help erase the memories of, well, Grosso.

Aleksandr Anyukov - Russian RB: The talk of Russia has surrounded around four names: the fantastically talented Andrei Arshavin, the electrifyingly pacy Yuri Zhirkov, the newly thinned out Roman Pavlyuchenko and the mastery of Guus Hiddink. But like Zhirkov, there’s another talented, skilled, attack-minded fullback on the Russian roster. Unlike Zhirkov, however, he hasn’t had the town talking about him. It’s clear the above players will find themselves on the shopping lists of plenty of western giants after the tournament, but Anyukov is a guy who can do the same with a performance against Spain’s weakest side, the left. And with Arshavin given license to roam, Joan Capdevila is looking at a nightmarish day with the AA tandem running the show.

Marco Senna - Spanish DM: Marco is quietly good. Very good. Villarreal, for all their success this year, is just not the place to be noticed on the domestic scene (though get back to us after next year’s Champions League). Cesc would obviously be the sexier choice (pipe down, ladies), but there’s a reason guys with vision and the ability to read a game like Marco are loved by coaches and in the lineup. When you have a team run by a mastermind like Guus Hiddink, it’s time to match it with cerebral play.

Oh and if he uncorks another one from distance, be assured you’ll be hearing his name for quite some time.