World Cup Corner

“A genuine leader is a man for hard times,” says Fatih Terim and upcoming fixtures against Denmark and Ukraine certainly fit that description for the coach recently restored to the helm of the Turkey team.

When Terim replaced Ersun Yanal following Turkey’s goalless home draw with Greece in June, he was under no illusions about the task ahead. Turkey lie second in their qualifying group but with leaders Ukraine all but out of sight, they face a three-way battle for the runners-up spot and a play-off berth.

A 3-1 loss against Bulgaria in a Sofia friendly on 17 August was hardly a happy start and defeat by Denmark in Istanbul on 3 September would leave them just a point ahead of both Greece and their Danish opponents, with away fixtures against Ukraine and Albania to come. Little wonder Terim tells FIFAworldcup.com: “We do not have the luxury to lose. We have three difficult games to get to Germany. We must win all these games and that’s what we are working towards.”

That said, Terim sounds in no way daunted by the challenge and describes a FIFA World Cup™ finals place as a “realistic goal” for a country who finished third at the 2002 showpiece in Korea/Japan. “All the posts I have filled throughout my coaching career were challenging ones so this is nothing new to me. I have full confidence in myself, my staff and my players - we will overcome this challenge together.”

Terim’s previous spell as Turkey coach should certainly stand him in good stead. He led the team to their first major finals in 42 years when they qualified for the 1996 UEFA European Championship, the catalyst for a period of remarkable progress. As Terim himself notes: “In the fours years between EURO 96 in England and EURO 2000 in Belgium and the Netherlands, so many things changed and for the first time in the history of Turkish football, a Turkish club won the UEFA Cup.” This, of course, was Terim’s own Galatasaray side in 2000.

The story got better still: quarter-finalists at EURO 2000, then third in the world at Korea/Japan 2002. Turkish football, in his words, became “quicker, physically more powerful, more collective, better planned and technically richer”. Yet Terim believes the national team have stood still since then. “We have to replace the generation that created the miracle between 1996 and 2002 with the younger generation,” he says. “We have spent the last couple of years on this replacement process. All our planning is focused on this new generation.”