| TURKEY
Best finals record:
First phase 1996
Qualification record:
Qualified through play-offs
|
Hakan Sukur
|
Coach: Mustafa Denizli
Squad:
Rustu Recber,
Fevzi Tuncay,
Omer Catkic,
Bulent Korkmaz, Fatih Akyel,
Osman Ozkoylu,
Emre Asik,
Alpay Ozalan, Ogun Temizkanoglu,
Hakan Unsal, Mert Korkmuz, Suat Kaya,
Umit Bozkurt,
Abdullah Ercan, Okan Buruk, Tayfur Havatchu, Sergen Yalcin, Umit Davala, Tugay Kerimoglu, Tayfun Korkut, Ergen Penbe, Muzzy Izzet, Emre Belozoglu,
Ayhan Akman, Arif Erdem, Oktay Derelioglu,
Hakan Sukur.
Prospects
Turkey will be hoping for a better performance in Belgium and the Netherlands than they achieved in England four years ago.
They were handed a harsh lesson when they were eliminated after losing their three first round matches without scoring a goal.
However, Mustafa Denizli's men will be more hopeful this time around after their impressive performances in qualification and being placed in one of the easier groups.
They beat Germany in Bursa during the qualifiers before missing chances to repeat that triumph instead of having to settle for a goalless draw in Munich.
If they had gained at least a draw in Finland, instead of losing 3-1, and beaten bottom-placed Moldova instead of drawing 1-1, they would have finished a point ahead of the Germans.
That meant the Turks had to settle for a play-off against the Republic of Ireland and they qualified via away goals.
A penalty scored by Tayfur Havutchu earned them a 1-1 draw in Dublin and that was followed by a goalless stalemate on an emotion-packed night in Bursa.
The final whistle was a signal for the 20,000 Turkish fans to go wild and a fight erupted between Republic substitute Tony Cascarino and Ali Eren Beserler.
That started a mass brawl, with police and Turkish fans involved and UEFA reacted by fining the Turkish FA £4,000 for their part in the Cascarino incident
and a further £6,500 for crowd misconduct.
The earthquake which affected the country midway through the qualifying campaign has been a source of inspiration for the team.
Some of the players and Denizli lost relatives and friends in the disaster and the team has vowed to produce maximum effort for all the victims of the disaster and to provide the country with some relief from their woes.
The vast majority of the squad comes from the country's big two teams, Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe.
In Hakan Sukur they have a prolific striker with 26 goals in 50 international appearances.
And Turkey have never lost any of the 16 games in
which he has scored.
Behind him Sergen Yalcin and Okan Buruk are players of genuine quality while Alpay Ozalan and Ogun Temizkanoglu
form a solid defensive barrier.