He may
be the country’s most successful coach of all time –both at club and national
level- but even Fatih Terim, The Emperor’s successful run at the late stage wasn’t
enough for Turkey. Louis van Gaal’s Holland ended the dream in Istanbul and
finished the group without single defeat. 3 wins in a row before Holland defeat
wasn’t enough to rescue Turkey’s worst qualifying campaign since 1994 and finished
the group at 4th place. Regret is the right word for Red and White because the
team and supporters deeply believe they could do much better.
It all
starts at the Euro 2012 play-offs, when newly Besiktas coach Slaven Bilic’s Croatia
crushed Turkey in Turk Telekom Arena with 3-0. “Yes, second Croatia game can be
my last appearance as Turkey coach” said Guus Hiddink when asked by a Turkish
reporter after Croatia defeat. People thought his Euro 2012 campaign was
unsuccessful too. According to Hurriyet’s website, biggest newspaper of Turkey,
85,6 percent of voters had chosen “He should resign” over a vote of confidence
after second Germany lose at the group stage. Media wasn’t behind him either,
articles and news were mostly about Hiddink’s lack of knowledge of Turkish
league and his choice of living in Holland rather than Turkey. New coach had to
be Turkish; someone can make difference and change the ‘unsuccessful’ squad
with new prospects. This nationalist approach led the Turkish Football
Federation to Abdullah Avci, country’s most consistent Super Lig coach who works
for Istanbul Belediye for 6 years.
Avci disaster
However,
things went south and Avci’s plans fell to pieces. First game was against Louis
van Gaal’s unconfident Holland, which lost all games at Euro 2012. Although 2-0
defeat against them was tolerable, 3-0 Estonia win was just an illusion. Turkey’s
new 4-2-3-1 formation wasn’t working fluently and new Bundesliga-origin wingers
Tunay Torun and Sercan Sararer’s performance was a big doubt. Also, title-holder
Galatasaray’s in-form playmaker Selcuk Inan and Nuri Sahin was on the bench.
Then problems arise. 3-1 loss against Hungary and 1-0 home defeat against
Romania was a disaster for the campaign, performance of the team was as bad as
results also. 1-1 Hungary home draw was the end for Avci era and Turkey had only 7
points (6 points came from Andorra and Estonia wins) when only 4 games left.
Arda
Turan, 27-year old team captain said “Nobody should accuse Avci unfairly, he
was trying to set a new system. We have responsibilities for results as
footballers, we throw ourselves at fire in the beginning of this campaign”
after Avci resigned but the picture was crystal clear. Everyone had lost their
hope to go Brazil 2014 but then Fatih Terim came and everything had changed.
Back to 4-4-2
Reigning
champions Galatasaray’s coach Fatih Terim’s acceptance of national task had
started a cold war between Gala president Unal Aysal and ‘The Emperor’ and it
eventually led the removing of him from Galatasaray job but in Turkey
perspective, everything was great. Terim changed the formation immediately to
4-4-2. Avci was using Arda Turan as number 10 but Terim changed his role to a similar
one at his team Atletico, a hybrid of left winger and no 10. He chose Selcuk
Inan as playmaker instead of Nuri Sahin and injured Emre Belozoglu and used Besiktas’
Rubin Kazan loanee Gokhan Tore on the right wing. New cocktail was great and
results started to come.
Terim’s
Turkey defeated Romania and Estonia on away fixture and Andorra at home, scored
9 goals and conceded none. Even this perfect treble wasn’t enough and at 15th
of October, the dream faded into a bad memory. Robben’s early goal gave the
lead to undefeated visitors and Turkish players were nervous in front of the
goal. Galatasaray’s out-of-form striker Burak Yilmaz missed an enourmous
chances at the end of first half and his teammate, Holland’s no 10 Wesley
Sneijder did what he couldn’t do. He smashed the ball into Fenerbahce keeper
Volkan Demirel’s goal and ended all the hope. He didn’t celebrate his
tremendous finish but it won’t matter. Even Fatih Terim wasn’t capable of doing
the impossible.
Ugur Karakullukcu
