4.29.2008

Soul, heart and life in Turkey

Various EURO 2008 readers requested that I could write about Turkey, and although we felt a debt with the Islamic team, we knew that there would be time to post about them.

This Crescent Stars Team will arrive at EURO 2008 with the obligation to take advantage of the last seasons with these great players that obtained the third position in Korea - Japan 2002 and reached the quarterfinals in the EURO 2000. After not classifying to the World Cup 2006, Switzerland - Austria became an obsession and that objective was practically encapsulated in Oslo. There, the Turkish had to defeat to Norway to improve on them in the second position of the Group C. It was a 2-1 victory and classification.

In that stage Hakan Sukur was important again. Beyond The King scored five goals (against Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina) his presence is always vital in that team that brings the soul in each field. With 36 years and 368 goals scored in his career, he is the team leader that has other three players from Galatasaray, four from Fenerbache and Sochaux´s Mevlut Erding as his natural replacement.

While the enthusiastic fanatics of the Premier Super League continue breathing the transcendental derby that brought consequences for the Fenerbahce players, the coach Fatih Terim is thinking about the matches against the local team Switzerland and Portugal, one of the favorites to acquire the EURO 2008.

The ideal would be to be qualified to quarterfinals after the match against the Czechs. Surely The Crescent Stars Team know how.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Has hecho caso a mis peticiones, jeje ;)

Qué decir de Hakan Sukur... Es el líder espiritual de este equipo que no la tendrá fácil para clasificar, pero que puede lograrlo sin duda alguna. Debe tratar de rescatar un punto ante Portugal y derrotar a los anfitriones y a los checos. Este año tienen buen equipo. Arda Turan y Nihat pueden ser decisivos.

Saludos Tom!

TURKISH FOOTBALL BY AHMET BOB TURGUT said...

Dear Tom, since World Cup 2002 , Turkey went through two coaches and Fatih Terim is the third one!..
I been following Fatih Terim ever since when he took over the National Team back is 1993, for the first time....That was a collage team than.....now, he has a hard time forming a national team. Hakan Sukur done a lot for the Turkish National Team....He holds all the records....but, it is time for him to go.... I don't think Fatih Terim will use him in this tournament. Players like Nihat and Arda at the midfield will be his jokers in this tournament....Look for my article coming soon in my blog.....
Soccer Regards,
AHMET TURGUT

Unknown said...

I am not sure what you really meant by your "islamic team" comment. I am hoping that was an innocent mistake. "Republic" of Turkey is a secular country regardless of what her citizens individually believe in.

Thanks.
Ugur Arcan

Tom said...

Ugur, as you says it was an innocent mistake. I only used it as a journalistic synonym according the symbols that Turkish flags has. Although Turkey doesn´t have an official religion, is known that 99,8 of the Turkish population is Muslim.Am I wrong?
Please let me know.

Excuse me with this mistake and thanks for your contribution!

Regards,
Tom

Unknown said...

Tom,

You are abolsutely right with the ratio. Islamic Team notation was communicating something else though which I wanted to note. That team represents all Turkish people all around the globe regardless of their religion. Thanks for your kind response and attention.