Hakan (right) - praying for assistance (Allsport)
TURKS TARGET WORLD CUP GLORY
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Turkey stars Hakan Sukur and Alpay are hoping
for divine intervention in their bid for World Cup glory.
The Turks booked a quarter-final clash with Senegal in the Far East after
claiming a 1-0 win over co-hosts Japan thanks to Umit Davala's header in the
second round match yesterday.
Both Parma striker Sukur and Aston Villa defender Alpay claim it was the
supporters prayers that saw them through in a tightly-contested match in front
of a partisan Japanese crowd, and they are hoping for more of the same against
World Cup surprise package Senegal.
"I have to say firstly that we are very happy because we are in the
quarter-finals," said Sukur.
"It wasn't easy obviously, we have spent a lot of energy until now but we
showed that we are a complete team. We played bad at times, but never gave up.
"There is a very important thing - we felt the prayers of our people with us
all the time. We thank them all in front of Allah. Hopefully, we will do better
with their continuing prayers. We just need them to keep praying."
Alpay added: "We are one of the eight best teams in the world now, but there
are no easy opponents.
"We have a difficult game against Senegal ahead of us.
"But as Hakan said we are here because of the prayers of the Turkish people.
We thank them all. We are capable of winning this upcoming game as well. As
Allah wishes, we will be in the semi-finals with the people praying for us."
Coach Senol Gunes admitted his players had made history by making the
quarter-finals for the first time in what is only Turkey's second World Cup
finals.
And he has urged his players to keep their positive attitude if they want to
progress further.
"My players have added pages to the history of Turkish football and they are
now creating pages beyond history," he said.
"This is the success of my people, my president, and my players.
"We don't need to write history anymore, let's write the future.
"We can be successful, if we keep ourselves from doubting. Let's change our
ways of thinking. We are thinking of the semi-finals now. I will accept any
score my players will get."
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