Euro 2020 Preview - Turkey

[Dave]

  Turkey

Senol Gunes is the mastermind behind Turkey’s third-place finish at the 2002 World Cup and many people have been hyping up the threat that his latest generation of players could pose heading in to this tournament.

 

 

Road to Euro 2021
Turkey finished second in their qualifying group behind World Cup winners France. They won seven of their ten qualifying games and conceded the least amount of goals in their group.

 

What to Expect
There is one thing we know not to expect from Şenol Güneş’ side and that's a lot of possession.

However, one thing we can expect from Turkey is for them to be resolute. This was their best defensive qualifying campaign since 2000 as they conceded just three goals. Two of those goals came against Iceland in the same game and the other goal came against World Champions France.

Turkey focus on utilising their height when they're on the offense. They appear most threatening from set pieces with the aerial threat of the likes of Cenk Tosun, Caglar Soyuncu, Enes Unal and Kaan Ayhan. This was emphasised in their qualifying matches against France who struggled to cope with their set-pieces.

 

 

Staring Lineup
Mert Gunok was first choice Goalkeeper throughout the qualifying campaign, however for the previous three World Cup Qualifiers it was Umut Cakir who was favoured in goal. Given he conceded three goals against Latvia, we fancy Senol Gunes to revert back to the reliable Mert Gunok this summer.

What makes Turkey's Euro 2021 qualifying campaign even more impressive was that at no point did they have a settled defensive partnership due to the amount of injuries that occurred. When all fit, Turkey have Mehir Demiral, Caglar Soyuncu, Ozan Kabak and Kaan Ayhan to choose from. We believe Demiral and Soyuncu's previous performances at club level will see them as the preferred centre-back choosing but Kaan Ayhan has been a major threat from set-pieces previously. The full back positions seem more assured, with Zeki Celik and Cengiz Umut being preferred to Mert Mulder and Caner Erkin.

In midfield it was Ozan Tufan and Mahmut Takdemir who played regularly in the centre during the qualification process. However for the last round of qualifiers Okay Yokuslu played alongside Ozan Tufan and its unknown whether he will keep his place in the starting lineup. It may be that both players rotate throughout the group stage.

Further forwards it appears that Senol Gunes seemed settled on what his most assured combination is. Kenan Karaman, Hakan Calhanoglu, Yusuf Yacizi and Burak Yilmaz have all impressed over the previous three years and are all likely to keep their places for the beginning of the tournament.

 

 

Key Player
At 35 years young, Turkey's Captain Burak Yilmaz is showing no signs of slowing down. He scored three goals in the recent World Cup Qualifiers and has had a well-publicised remarkable season for Lille in Ligue One. This is likely to be his last international tournament and he will no doubt want to go out on a high.

A trash-talking, ball-holding specialist that has been lethal in front of goal and still possesses the desire, combativeness and leadership qualities that made him a legend in the Turkish League. He should be vital for Turkey this summer.

 

Predictions
If teams in this group do not figure out a way to stop Turkey's aerial threat, they could certainly be in contention to win this group. A team that took four points of France in qualification should not be overlooked. They may not go on to be as successful as the World Cup team in 2002 but this Turkey side are definitely one of the more intriguing teams to monitor this tournament.

[Azeem]

Well about time they became a decent team. Underachieving for quite a while

[Tommy]

Kenan Karaman  Bit sad he's leaving Fortuna, but I'll be rooting for him. 

[Miles Matheson]

the team is definitely dangeorus.A young and fun team to watch. so I thnk they will rise from the stage.