After a roller-coaster six-year ride, Turkish football is
once again on a high and seemingly poised to stake a claim for
readmission to the top table of the international game.
The Bosporus reverberated to the sound of celebration when
the Turks claimed a sensational third place at the 2002 FIFA World
Cup Korea/Japan™, but fell into deep mourning when the team missed
out on the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™ in a dramatic play-off
against Switzerland. Many fans feared the Turks were fated to be a
one-hit-wonder in the annals of world football, but last week's
1-0 home success against Bosnia and Herzegovina saw Fatih
Terim's men take second spot in UEFA EURO 2008 qualifying Group
C, sealing a berth at next summer's finals in Austria and
Switzerland.
The unit inspired by Newcastle United schemer Emre Belozoglu
and Bayern Munich workhorse Hamit Altintop has successfully
banished the bitter memory of past failure, and will now be
bursting with determination and resolve in another tilt at the
biggest names in the continental game. The latest triumph has
naturally had a positive effect on the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World
Rankings.
Set to regain top ten spot
Turkey have climbed an impressive twelve places from 28th to
16th, adding 153 ranking points compared to the previous month and
laying solid foundations for a future return to top ten status,
although the Turks' best-ever placing since the introduction of
the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings remains some way over the
horizon, as they reached the heady heights of fifth in June 2004.
However, nothing is impossible in this nation of dedicated fans
passionately consumed by football.
Turkey's rapid ascent largely traces to their two utterly
crucial victories at the conclusion to qualifying for the
continental showdown in 2008, as Terim and his troops snatched
triumph from the looming jaws of failure. The situation looked
bleak back in mid-October when Eintracht Frankfurt hitman Ioannis
Amanatidis fired reigning European champions Greece to a 1-0
victory in Istanbul, but just a month later, Emre and Nihat Kahveci
helped their team come from behind to register a 2-1 success in a
do-or-die trip to closest rivals Norway, before Nihat completed the
job with the winner against the Bosnians.
Following the spectacular turnaround in fortune, Terim was
able to indulge in a spot of philosophising. "If we'd
failed to take this chance, somebody would have had to take
responsibility, and that's what I would have done," the
coach mused, before turning his steely gaze to Austria and
Switzerland. "Now we've made the finals, and I'll be
staying with the team. I promised we'd qualify and make an
impression at the finals. We've kept the first part of the
bargain - now we need to focus on the second."
Weight of expectation on Nihat's shoulders
The prolific Nihat, who turned 28 two days before netting the
crucial winner against Bosnia Herzegovina, appears set to take on
the mantle of superstardom in his home country, although that will
only increase the burden of expectation on his shoulders. Currently
riding the crest of a wave with high-flying Spaniards Villarreal,
Nihat rates as one of the hottest properties in Europe and is
faithfully following in the footsteps of his personal idol, Turkey
great Hakan Sukur. "I've come back from one or two serious
injuries, and everything will be a lot better now. Qualifying
shouldn't have been such a close-run thing for us, but we
deserved to go through. My goals [against Norway and Bosnia
Herzegovina] ended up winning the matches, but let's not forget
the work we put in as a team. We've won two crunch matches and
showed the world what we're capable of," the player
declared.
Football is littered with examples of teams extracting their
heads from a beckoning noose and going on to greatness, inspired
and drawn closer together by the narrow escape. It will be
fascinating to observe the resurgent Turks' progress in the
months and years to come.
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