TURKKEY'S NEW "WONDERKID"......ARDA TURAN.........
Fatih Terim has hailed the new "Wonderboy of Turkey" Arda Turan as a potential world-beater after the midfielder's stoppage time winner ended Switzerland's involvement in UEFA EURO 2008.
The Galatasaray star capped a man-of-the-match display with a dramatic late strike to seal Wednesday night's 2-1 win at St Jakob-Park and Fatih revealed afterwards that he had long anticipated that the 21-year-old would thrive on football's biggest stages.
"I know him from my time at Galatasaray. He's one of my old students if I can put it like that," Fatih said.
"If anything I had expected him to progress more than he has done. He is very talented but he needs to continue to improve his stamina. If he can do that, I think he can be one of the most important players in Europe."
TERIM also paid tribute to Semih Senturk, whose introduction as part of a double substitution at half-time paid off when he headed in to cancel out Hakan Yakin's opener for the Swiss.
"The substitutions were successful. Semih is a goalscorer, that's what we expect him to do and he did not let us down. You know when he comes on he will make something happen."
Just as it seemed the co-hosts had done enough to stay alive in the competition, Arda broke clear on the left, cut inside and beat goalkeeper Diego Benaglio from the edge of the area with the help of a deflection off the boot of centreback Patrick Muller.
It was cruel for the Swiss, who were left to count the cost of failing to take the chances they had to kill off the Turks long before the dramatic denouement of a match that came close to being abandoned after a torrential downpour left the players slithering about dangerously in the first half.
"It is a wonderful feeling," Terim admitted. "The players needed this for their confidence and I congratulate them on their incredible effort."
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