The first day of the most intense and competitive football tournament in the world is almost underway.
Tomorow evening, Portugal – who are crowd favorites with their flashy play, big superstars, and recent success in the World Cup and Euro – will face off against a relatively unknown and written off Turkey team. Let me tell you here and now that the world is about to be SHOCKED. Shocked as France was in the 2002 World Cup when they were beaten handily by an unknown Senegal squad.
Turkey doesn’t exactly have history on its side. They failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup after losing out to Switzerland on away goals despite beating them 4-2 in the 2nd leg. This was after a disappointing playoff lost to Latvia that kept the Turkish side away from Euro 2004. Adding to this is the fact that Portugal has beaten Turkey twice in the Euro competition – once in 1996 where Turkey collected 0 points, and once in 2000 in the quarter finals.
But this isnt to say that Turkey can’t perform on the grand stage. Turkey finished 3rd in the 2002 World Cup with Brazil being the only team to beat them. They also have had some success in European club competitions with Galatasaray winning the UEFA cup in 2000, and Fenerbahce beating some serious opposition in this years champions league.
The biggest expectations will be on the shoulders of Turkey’s stars playing their football abroad. Hamit Altintop (Bayern Munich), Nihat Kahveci (Villareal), Tuncay Sanli (Middlesborough) are three stars that are one or two magnificent games away from capturing the world’s attention. Emre Belezoglu who always seems to play heroicly for his home country, and Arda Turan – the new golden boy of Turkish football – are also sure to surprise their fair share of defenders and fans.
But Turkey’s biggest strength in this tournament and any competition that it enters is the heart factor. Turkey is undeniably one of the worlds most nationalistic countries, and football is far more important than anything else going on in peoples’ lives. Turks always play with a chip on their shoulder and want to prove themselves to the rest of the world. With this kind of motivation, aspiration, and desire – it is hard to count them out even if skill or talent was not part of their repertoire.
Skill, however, is very much a part of this years Turkish side. There are a handful of players that I no doubt believe will receive major offers after this tournament is over. The only thing that remains is whether Turkey’s egomaniac coach, known as The Emperor, can manage to show brilliance rather than madness and make this unbalanced and fragile team cooperate together and play some quality football.
The skill is there, the motivation is there, and you can count on thousands of Turkish fans to be there. Portugal and the world will be shocked tomorrow night, as Turkey will dazzle and razzle and steal the show from under the nose of football’s darlings. Football fans: its time to forget about Portugal, there’s a new Champ in town.