And for the home side only a win will do The team are getting old, too many players are in their 30s, although given the way the Under-21 side dazzled against England at St James' Park, the solution may already be at hand."We have a tremendous wave of talent breaking into the Turkish team and the Under-21s at the moment. We did not reach that level which had carried us through the World Cup and we must find that again." What Tugay sees as the great strength of this Turkey squad - the fact that many of them have grown up together and know each other's game - is also a weakness. They almost lost disastrously at home to Macedonia, while their goalkeeper, Rustu Recber, commented that their defeat by England in Sunderland was a product of over-confidence."I would agree with Rustu," Tugay said "We were not able to play to our full abilities. That made me very proud."Teams which finish third in World Cups, like Croatia in 1998, Sweden four years previously and Poland in 1982, often fade away, and Turkey's progress in Group Seven has been occasionally patchy. Schools were closed to watch the games and afterwards there were enormous street parties. It was memorable to be welcomed back, looking out of your airplane window and seeing the fighter planes. I am always being stopped on the streets of Istanbul for autographs and pictures I have no problem with that. But the press is different."The reaction back home to the World Cup was astonishing. When I spoke to my family in Turkey they said it was like a curfew on match-days. "For instance, the Turkish press are always at the training sessions but if you keep a distance from the press, then they stop hassling you. "There is a big difference between the media in Turkey and in England," Tugay said.
Turkey regrouped, thrashed Austria 6-0 on aggregate in the play-offs and made it to the semi-finals.On their return, their plane was escorted home by fighters from the Turkish Air Force, and Muzzy Izzet compared their reception to the kind of adulation heaped on David Beckham's shoulders. Leading 1-0 with three minutes left, they conceded twice to Henrik Larsson and Andreas Andersson and were condemned to the play-offs. Gunes, a studious man who makes his team repeatedly watch videos of the opposition and who, unlike most people in Turkish football, is not from Istanbul, had to be talked out of resigning. When qualifying for the last World Cup, the Turks faced a similar situation to the one which confronts them now.They had to beat their main rivals, Sweden, in Istanbul in the penultimate fixture virtually to ensure their safe passage to Japan and South Korea. "And if we succeed in Portugal, I will be very grateful to him," Tugay smiled.Gunes, who resurrected Tugay's international career after he was sent home from Euro 2000 after a disagreement with the then coach, Mustafa Denizli, is under quite as much pressure as his England counterpart, Sven Goran Eriksson. At the age of 33, Tugay wondered how many more games for his country his body might take if he is to fulfil his ambition of two or three more Premiership seasons.The Turkey coach, Senol Gunes, however, persuaded him to delay his departure until next summer's tournament. And, for the home side, only a win will do.It was to have been his last match before his international retirement. You have to look at the Glasgow derby for that."People don't want to talk about the good things in a game, they just want side-issues."There will be no side-issues when Tugay runs out in Fenerbahce's stadium next Saturday evening for the match that will decide whether Turkey or England qualify automatically for the European Championship or have to endure a play-off. It is a shame the English media focus on a fanatical element which I have seen in all the clubs I have played for. |
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