INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS WILL BE PROBLEM

Turkey might be through to the quarter-finals at the European Football Championship but the team is not in great shape for their first playoff match against Croatia.

After amazing come from behind win over the Czech Republic in their final pool match yesterday, Turkey have seven players injured or suspended ahead of Saturday's quarter-final.

The central defender Emre Gungor might miss the rest of the championship because of a calf muscle injury, and their goalkeeper Volkan Demirel will miss the Croatia match after being sent off yesterday.

WE HAVE LOST DR.RENAN TURKMAN

http://www.rit.edu/kgcoe/ue/renan.php

Dear Friends, Sunday was first a joy with Turkish National team for me but, that joy turned around with a sad call, I received, from the nursing home, that Dr. Turkman was staying.

After five hours of battle , around 11:17 PM,ET. He said good bye to us.

Dr. Renan Turkman passed away. while the sky actually was crying with thundering while I was holding his hand...God bless Him.....Turkey And Humanity lost a great thinker and teacher...

I will miss him!......

He was my Best Friend......and he was Fenerbahce fan as "Kalamis Abi" on Antu.com Forums...

He was also ,member of the Fenerbahce soccer club.

'Turkey can go all the way to Euro final'

Turkey coach Fatih Terim said he wants his side to beat Croatia in Friday's Euro 2008 quarterfinal in Vienna and then go all the way to the final in the Austrian capital on June 29.

Turkey again showed why they are the come-back kings with a stunning late win over the Czech Republic on Sunday by turning a 2-0 deficit with 15 minutes left into a 3-2 win to reach the last eight as Group A runners-up.

Turkish captain Nihat Kahveci's brace with just minutes left in the winner-takes-all game booked a quarterfinal tie against Group B winners and Germany-slayers Croatia in Vienna.

And now Terim, wants to go all the way to the final.
"Croatia are a good side, they beat Germany, but we are a good team too and we will get better as each day passes," said Terim, whose side also stunned Switzerland last week 2-1 when they scored the winning goal in extra time.

"They have a young team, they play well, but as far as we are concerned we will go to Vienna and lets hope we stay there, it is winner takes all now.

"We respect all teams, but we fear no one."

Terim said his team's stunning late comeback against the Czechs was testament to their ability to fight until the end.

"I'm proud that I have players who know that the match ends with the referee's whistle," said the 54-year-old former AC Milan boss.

"We showed the whole world what kind of a team we are.

"We came here to play to the end. We're working to make that goal come true."

With the scores level on 2-2 with just over a minute remaining, the match looked set to be decided by an historic penalty shoot-out with both sides having identical records in the Group A table.

But Kahveci's winner sent Turkey into seventh heaven and broke Czech hearts.

"Just as we were preparing for penalty kicks I signalled to score a third goal if the chance came up and it worked," said Terim.

"In my career, I never ever thought of giving up on a game.

"I am a person who never loses hope I have seen many things happen in the last minutes of game, that is the beauty of football.

"I am aware of what our team can do and I think our team likes dramatic finishes, lets hope we can win matches a little sooner next time."<

FATIH TERIM:"MY PLAYERS MAKE ME PROUD"

Coach of Turkish National Soccer(football) Team,Fatih Terim was proud of his players as they hit back from two goals down to beat Czech Republic 3-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament in spectacular fashion.

After Arda had pulled a goal back with 15 minutes left, a Petr Cech error allowed Nihat Kahveci to grab an 87th-minute equaliser before the 28-year-old Villarreal striker scored an amazing last-gasp winner.

An emotional Terim said after the comeback: "We've lifted a great burden off our shoulders. We had some injuries that we didn't expect. We had to manage.

"We're in the quarter-finals. Hopefully it'll get better now.

"I'm proud that I have players who know that the match ends with the referee's whistle.

"We showed the whole world what kind of a team we are. We came here to play to the end. We're working to make that goal come true.

"I send a message to my country and I say to the people 'get on the streets, celebrate this victory, profit from this moment'."

AMAZING VICTORY!....TURKS DID THE IMPOSSIBLE

Two goals in the last three minutes gave Turkey a remarkable 3-2 win over Czech Republic in a winner-take-all Euro 2008 thriller on Sunday, earning a quarter-final meeting with Croatia. The Czechs were 2-0 up but Turkey equalised in dramatic style with three minutes to go when keeper Petr Cech inexplicably dropped the ball for Nihat Kahveci to slide the ball into an empty net.
The Czechs looked home and dry in the 61st minute when Jaroslav Plasil added to Jan Koller's first-half opener to put his team 2-0 ahead.
But in an amazing end to the winner-takes-all match, Arda Turan halved the deficit in the 75th minute before Nihat came to the party.
The Turkey captain drew the sides level in the 86th minute when he took advantage of a ghastly error by Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech to poke home into an empty net.
And the Villarreal striker sparked delirium among the Turkish fans when he curled home an unstoppable winner with two minutes remaining.

There was still time for Turkey goalkeeper Volkan Demirel to receive his marching orders for an off-the-ball incident involving Koller, but his team held on to record their first win over the Czechs in 12 attempts. Group B winners Croatia now lie in wait for the Turks in Vienna on Friday.
A penalty shootout loomed if the match had ended as a draw after 90 minutes but it looked long odds against that prospect the way Turkey played in the first half.
They were dreadful and looked a team gripped by nerves as they failed to trouble Cech in the opening 45 minutes. The more experienced Czechs, semi-finalists at the Euros four years ago, looked assured from the off and should have been more than a goal ahead at the interval.

Koller, back in the starting line-up after being benched for the 3-1 defeat to Portugal, was at the hub of most of his team's attacks and he headed Marek Jankulovski's free-kick over the bar when well positioned in the 10th minute.
Turkey's Brazil-born midfielder Mehmet Aurelio had moments earlier picked up a booking which will rule him out of the quarter-final.
Marek Matejovsky, who was carried off on a stretcher in the 37th minute, drew a decent save out of Volkan while Servet Cetin made a great last-gasp clearance to prevent Koller scoring a simple tap-in. It was one-way traffic, the ever-dangerous Libor Sionko firing just over from the diagonal in the 25th minute as the nervous Turks continued to relinquish possession.
The goal the Czechs deserved came nine minutes later, Juventus full-back Grygera galloping down the right and crossing for Koller to power home a trademark header in emphatic style from eight yards out. That was his 55th international goal and the Nurnberg targetman, who will quit playing for his national team after the Euros, almost made it 56 when he nodded over another Jankulovski set-piece. The Turkey players trudged off heads down at the half-time whistle and would no doubt have been given the hairdryer treatment by coach Fatih Terim in the dressing room.

Terim replaced anonymous striker Semih Senturk with midfielder Sabri Sarioglu at the interval, and the change paid dividends as the Turks began the second half well under rainy skies.
Nihat volleyed over acrobatically two minutes in while Tuncay Sanli deflected a free-kick straight at Cech. The Czechs suddenly looked tentative but Plasil settled any nerves with their second just after the hour mark. Moments earlier, Koller had sidefooted wastefully wide with just Volkan to beat but Osasuna midfielder Plasil did much better when he got on the end of Sionko's right-wing cross to prod home at the far post. The goal initially took the wind out of Turkey's sails and midfielder Jan Polak almost made it 3-0 when he sidefooted Sionko's cross against the post from 10 yards.

But it was not all over. Arda set up a tense final 15 minutes when he slid home a low finish past Cech after pouncing on a Hamit Altintop centre.
And after Servet somehow headed wide from close range in the 81st minute, Cech spilled a deep cross from the right, allowing Nihat to force home the equaliser into an empty net with three minutes remaining. Worse was to come for Cech when barely a minute later, Nihat made the most of some dreadful defending to latch on to a through-ball and curl home a superb finish off the bar.

In the final few seconds, Volkan saw red for an incident involving Koller but Turkey held on for a dramatic victory.

FATIH TERIM HAS SEEN THE LIGHT!......

TERIM WILL MAKE THREE CHANGES IN THE LINE-UP AGAINST CHECK REPUBLIC

Stoburn Turkey coach Fatih Terim, finally has seen the light at the end of tunnel and is doing the correct think, in my opinion.

THIS IS THE WAY IT SHOULD HAD BEEN AGAINST PORTUGAL.....

Midfielder Mehmet Topal would replace Tumer Metin would Emre Gungor will start in central defence alongside Servet Cetin instead of Emre Asik, Terim said at a news conference at the Stade de Geneve.

Semih Senturk, who scored the equaliser in Turkey's 2-1 win over co-hosts Switzerland on Wednesday, would partner Nihat Kahveci in a two-pronged attack as midfielder Gokdeniz Karadeniz drops to the bench, Terim added.

And, Tuncay Sanli will move to midfield.

Some rain is forecast for Sunday and Terim said he hoped there would not be a repeat of the torrential downpour that made the Basel pitch almost unplayable on Wednesday for Turkey's match with Switzerland.

'Slippery turf is not always a bad thing as it can give you more pace,' he said. 'We will just have to try to adapt.'

FATIH TERIM: WE AREN'T THINKING ABOUT THE PENALTY KICKS"

Fatih Terim says his side have not practised taking penalties even though Sunday night's winner-takes-all clash against the Czech Republic could be decided by a historic shoot-out.

Both Turkey and the Czechs have identical records in Group A and should the scores be locked after 90 minutes here, the match will be decided by penalties with no extra-time played.

Even though this is both side's final pool game, the knock-out phase has arrived early and while the winners will go onto a quarter-final berth, the losers pack up and go home.

“We have not practised for penalty kicks,” was the surprise answer given by the Turkish coach when asked if his side have taken precautions.

“We want to have done enough to win this game over 90 minutes, but if the occasion arises, my players will do what they have to do.”

Having come from behind to beat co-hosts Switzerland 2-1 last Wednesday in Basel, after the first-half was blighted by torrential rain, Terim said he is hoping for drier conditions.

“The one thing I would like to change from the last match is the rain, I hope we won't have the same conditions as it gets very hard when it rains so heavily,” he said.

“Our team is perhaps not very experienced in these kind of championships, but a hunger to do well is also important.

“We had to beat Switzerland and we did that, now we must do the same.

“We are used to playing under pressure.”

Terim said he was disappointed with the Turkish media in the build-up to the game, who, he says, have falsely reported a row between him and Turkish Football Federation president Hasan Gogan last week.

And Terim said some reports claiming the squad are on a special bonus were also false.

“We see some false reports, there are some reports which make me feel sad and in fact there are more of these reports going on now,” he said.

“It is hard to understand why there is so much criticism going on in Turkey.

“There are reports that I had a fight with the president of the Turkish Football Federation, but that is false and he put a statement on the website saying so.

“Now there are stories saying we will get special bonuses, but nobody has ever said anything about this from our squad.

“Why are we talking about these things less than 24 hours before such an important match?

“I am not happy about this and it is something we will look at when we get back to Istanbul.”

History of fixtures between the two sides favours the Czechs, who have won three of the four meetings between the sides with one draw, but Terim says records are made to be broken.

“I have checked the statistics and generally the Czechs have always been more successful than us in meetings.

“We know the Czechs are very good on penalties, but perhaps the time has come for their luck to change.”