Euro 2016 Preview - Turkey

Team: Turkey

Manager: Fatih Terim

Group: Group D

Other teams in-group: Spain, Croatia and Czech Republic.

THE SQUAD

Having been in a tough qualifying group with Holland, Iceland and Czech Republic, Turkey scraped through the qualifying campaign as the best third place team led by Manager Fatih Terim, who is in his third spell as national team manager.

They will be looking to Barcelona midfielder Arda Turan to lead them to success in France. Turan, who first came to prominence in EURO 2008, enjoyed a brilliant spell at Atletico Madrid before joining Barcelona where he had to wait until January of this year to play under Luis Enrique due to the Catalan club’s transfer embargo. The former Galatasaray legend has scored 17 goals from 90 appearances for his country.

Turkey can look back to EURO 2008 for inspiration where they reached the semi finals of the tournament when they eventually lost out in a thrilling 3-2 loss to Germany.

They will be hoping the likes of Borussia Dortmund’s Nuri Sahin, Bayer Leverkusen’s Hakan Calhanoglu and former Arsenal man Oghuzan Ozyakup can lead them to similar success in France this time around.

One gets the impression that Calhanoglu in particular has a chance to emulate Turan’s emergence in EURO 2008 in France having recently cemented a place in the national team ahead of the championships. The Leverkusen midfielder has made 18 appearances for his country despite being born in Germany and has scored six times.

There was also room in the squad for 18-year-old Emre Mor who currently plays at FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark and who made his international debut in their 1-0 friendly win over Montenegro. The midfielder is currently the subject of serious transfer speculation with Liverpool.

A key man for Turkey in their qualifying campaign was Galatasaray midfielder Selcuk Inan who scored the last minute crucial free kick against Iceland that clinched a dramatic qualification at the death. Inan has made 50 appearances for his country scoring eight times.

The squad in full:

Goalkeepers: Volkan Babacan (Medipol Basaksehir), Onur Recep Kivrak (Trabzonspor), Harun Tekin (Bursaspor).

Defenders: Gokhan Gonul (Fenerbahce), Ahmet Calik (Genclerbirligi), Sener Ozbayrakli (Fenerbahce), Hakan Balta (Galatasaray), Mehmet Topal (Fenerbahce), Semih Kaya (Galatasaray), Ismail Koybasi (Besiktas), Caner Erkin (Fenerbahce).

Midfielders: Emre Mor (FC Nordsjælland), Volkan Sen (Fenerbahce), Hakan Calhanoglu (Leverkusen), Nuri Sahin (Borussia Dortmund), Volkan Sen (Fenerbahce), Oguzhan Ozyakup (Besiktas), Ozan Tufan (Fenerbahce), Selcuk Inan (Galatasaray), Arda Turan (Barcelona), Olcay Sahan (Besiktas).

Forwards: Burak Yilmaz (Beijing Guoan FC), Cenk Tosun (Besiktas), Yunus Malli (FSV Mainz 05).

HOW THEY GOT HERE

Turkey were in a difficult group with Czech Republic, Holland and Iceland and started off the campaign poorly with a 3-0 loss to Iceland, a 2-1 home loss to Czech Republic and 1-1 draw away to Latvia.

They picked up two wins against Kazakhstan as well as a couple of draws with Holland and Latvia again.

However, in their final three matches they beat Holland 3-0 on home soil before going to Czech Republic and winning 2-0 as they were left needing a win at home to Iceland to stay in contention.

An 89th minute winner against Iceland from Selcuk Inan was enough to win 1-0 and scrape through as the best third place team in the qualifying for France.

KEY PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR

Arda Turan (Barcelona), Nuri Sahin (Borussia Dortmund) and Selcuk Inan (Galatasaray).

WHERE THEY ARE PLAYING AND STAYING (All kick-off times are according to Irish time)

June 12, 14.00, Paris, Parc Des Princes, Turkey v Croatia.

June 17, 20.00, Nice, Allianz Riviera, Spain v Turkey.

June 21, 20.00, Lens, Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Czech Republic v Turkey.

Base Camp: Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer.

THREE INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE TEAM

Turkey beat Group D rivals Croatia in the quarter finals of EURO 2008. Despite conceding a last minute goal in extra time, Semih Senturk equalised in added on time and Turkey won the resulting penalty shoot out.

Istanbul club Fenerbache has six players in the national team. In September 2011, Fenerbache played out a 1-1 draw at home to Manisapor in front of 41,000 female spectators having banned male fans following previous disturbances.

The best Turkey have ever achieved in the major tournament was in the World Cup 2002 in Korea and Japan, where they reached the semi-finals, losing out to eventual winners Brazil before going onto claim third place with a 3-2 win over South Korea.

THEIR RECENT FORM

England 2-1 Turkey

Turkey 1-0 Montenegro

Slovenia 0-1 Turkey

First game: June 12, 14.00, Paris, Parc des Princes, v Croatia