COULD TURKEY AND COACH TERIM MAKE AN IMPRESSION?..

Turkey's head coach Fatih Terim, left, talks with midfielder Emre Belozoglu during a training session of the national soccer team of Turkey at the Centre Sportif Colovray in Nyon, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 4, 2008. Turkey is in group A at the Euro 2008 European Soccer Championships in Austria and Switzerland.
(AP Photo/)

Turkish National Team has failed to make an impression in international play since 2002, when it made a surprising run to the semifinals of the World Cup.
This will be third try, for Terim in the European Tournament.

Could the third time, be a charm for Terim?....

Only Brazil, which beat Turkey in the group stage and the semifinals, defeated the team in 2002. But since that memorable performance, Turkey failed to reach the Euro 2004 finals and the 2006 World Cup finals.

Coach Fatih Terim hopes the pieces are in place for Turkey to make another run at a major tournament at the Euro 2008 finals. Turkey opens the finals against Portugal on June 7.

"The state and direction of Turkish football were questioned after those failures, but qualifying for Euro 2008 has helped us turn the corner," Terim told UEFA.com. "Even big teams can miss out on these competitions and that's what's good about football. Naturally, there are times when you cannot win."

Seventeen of Turkey's 23 players are based in Turkey, but three key players have improved their game elsewhere in Europe.

Forward Nihat Kahveci plays for Villarreal in Spain, while midfielder Tuncay Sanli is at Middlesbrough in the English Premier League and midfielder Hamit Altintop is at Bayern Munich in Germany's Bundesliga

Kahveci scored 20 goals in Spain this season and has 15 goals in 55 appearances for Turkey. Sanli has 15 goals in 54 appearances for Turkey and Altintop, who is coming back from injury, has two goals in 42 games for his country.

With veteran Hakan Sukur, who scored the fastest goal in World Cup history in 10.8 seconds in 2002, left off the squad, Kahveci and Sanil will carry more of the team's offensive load.

Altintop developed into a solid all-around player for Bayern Munich before his injury and provides another attacking option in midfield. Semih Senturk is also a player to watch after he led Turkey's top league in scoring.

Turkey has a little controversy in goal where captain Rustu Recber, who has 116 international appearances, has apparently lost his spot to Volkan Demirel. The 26-year-old Demirel took advantage of playing time while Recber was injured and has held onto the job.

Terim also thinks a few younger players could emerge during the tournament, but the coach didn't want to point out anyone.

"I expect some of our talented young players to make a breakthrough this summer but I don't want to say who as this would be unfair on the rest," he said.

In addition to Portugal, the Czech Republic and co-hosts Switzerland are also in Group A.

OUTLOOK

Turkey was impressive in early qualifying, including a 4-1 victory at Greece in March of last year but struggled in the latter stages and just held onto a spot in the finals. Depending on what team shows up depends on how long Turkey will stick around.

SHORTY TURKS!...
As I mentioned before, Turkish National Team, attackers are short players...

Well, Today at the press conference in NYON, Switzerland, Striker Nihat talked about this.......here is what he said......
"We are short, but we have other capabilities," Kahveci, who is 1.75 meters (5-foot-9). "Looking at our team, we have Europe's most energetic players for sure."

Servet Cetin, Turkey's 1.91 (6-foot-3) central defender, is one of the tallest player.

Nihat went on to say "We'll keep the ball down on the pitch. That's how we will play,"

Tuncat Sanli returned to training with the team on Wednesday. He had trained under the supervision of a therapist the previous day due to an injury, but team officials declined to say what his injury was.