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Turkey and Croatia faced each other in the second match of EURO 2024 Qualification Group D. Croatia won the match 2-0 at Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Stadium.
The team that started the match fast was our National Team. Cengiz and Kerem’s shots did not allow Livakovic to score. Kerem’s goal was caught in the offside flag. Croatia took a 1-0 lead with Kovacic in the 20th minute. In the final moments of the first half, at 45+4, Kovacic scored another goal and gave his team a 2-0 advantage.
HAKAN CALHANOGLU IS INJURED
Our National Team captain Hakan Çalhanoğlu was injured in the 38th minute and was replaced by İsmail Yüksek. Hakan, who experienced great sadness while coming to the side, responded with applause to the fans who applauded him.
We had the most important position in the second half with Cenk Tosun in 90+2, but Livakovic did not allow the goal. No goals were scored in the second half and the match ended with Croatia leading 2-0.
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After this result, the National Team had 3 points. Croatia made it 4 points and rose to the leadership. Wales, which beat Latvia 1-0 in the other match of the group, came to the second place with 4 points. The National Team is in the 3rd place at the end of the second matches.
3 CHANGES FROM KUNTZ
A National Team Coach Stefan Kuntz made 3 changes in 11 of the Armenia match, which was won 2-1 away. Kuntz took Zeki Çelik to replace Onur Bulut, Salih Özcan to replace Ozan Kabak, and Kerem Aktürkoğlu to replace Cenk Tosun.
Entrusting the goal to Mert Günok as in the first match, Kuntz formed the defensive quartet of Zeki Çelik, Merih Demiral, Çağlar Söyüncü and Ferdi Kadıoğlu. Kuntz, who put Salih Özcan, Orkun Kökçü and Hakan Çalhanoğlu in the midfield, assigned Cengiz Ünder on the right wing and Kerem Aktürkoğlu on the left wing. Kuntz preferred Enes Ünal for the goals.
KUNTZ TURNED AGAIN TO 4 DEFENSE
A National Team Coach Stefan Kuntz preferred the 4-way defense in the Croatia match. Stefan Kuntz, who came out with a triple defense in the first away match against Armenia, turned to 4-for-defense with the changes he made during the half-time and the national team won the match with a score of 2-1. The German coach started the fight with 4 defenses in the Croatia match.
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THE FANS SHOULD GAVE SUCCESSFULLY, KUNTZ İSMAİL YÜKSEK INTO THE GAME
When a change was pointed out for Hakan Çalhanoğlu, the tribunes in Bursa chanted ‘Arda’ for Arda Güler to enter the game. German coach Stefan Kuntz replaced Hakan Yüksek with İsmail Yüksek.
İSMAİL’S GOAL IS CONSIDERED IN OUR POINT
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In the extra time of the first half, the ball lost by İsmail Yüksek in the midfield met with nets in our goal. In Pasalic’s shot from the left diagonal, Mert’s bouncing ball sent the ball to the empty goal by Kovacic and brought the score to 2-0.
ARDA GULER ENTERS THE GAME IN 67
As there was no change in the score in the first part of the second half, Bursa stands continued to cheer for ARDA GÜLER. The young star joined the game with applause instead of Orkun Kökçü in the 67th minute. At the same minute, Barış Alper Yılmaz replaced Kerem Aktürkoğlu.
UĞUR MELEKE: WE ALWAYS DIE IN DEATH MATCHES
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After conceding the goal, we needed a coach on the side.
Mert is the number one of Beşiktaş, the top contender of the Süper Lig. Zeki is in the Europa League quarter-finals with Roma. Çağlar plays in the Premier League, he is an Atletico passenger. Merih is in the top race of Serie A. Ferdi is chasing the top of the Super League, he was in the Europa League 10 days ago.
In our midfield, the leader of the Dutch League, the captain of the Europa League quarter-finalist Feyenoord, Orkun, the Bundesliga leader Salih from Dortmund and the Champions League quarter-finalist Hakan from Inter play. Super League leader Galatasaray’s ace Kerem on offense, France league runner-up Cengiz ace of Marseille and Enes, who is in second place in La Liga kingship race.
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WE ARE THE 10TH MOST VALUABLE COUNTRY BUT
Eight of our starting 11 play in the major leagues. Five of them competed in the European cups last week. If we exclude our goalkeeper, we have a group of young players with an average age of 25 but with a high level of experience. According to Transfermarkt data, Türkiye is the 10th most valuable national team in Europe. The Turkish National Team had such a qualified staff in the early 2000s for the last time. They have already reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2000 and the semi-finals of the World Cup 2002.
According to the official data revealed by reputable statistical companies such as CIES, Statista and Transfermarkt, the squad value of the Turkish National Team is above countries such as Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Poland and Norway. Do you ever feel that we are better than them as a game? I don’t really feel.
NO MATCHES ARE CRITICAL
We came out with three defenders against Armenia, who is 18 and 20 years old in tandem, who finished the match, and who can fight to stay in the relegation in the Super League. The Armenians gave us a 23-18 advantage in meeting the ball in the penalty area. We started the game well in Bursa yesterday, but after conceding the goal, we needed a coach on the sidelines. However, at the head of the 10th most valuable national team of Europe, Turkey, there is a technical man who could not intervene in any critical match.
THE TEAM DOES NOT DESERVE THIS TEAM
We die in all life-or-death matches: we didn’t beat Norway. We couldn’t get past Portugal. We finished the Nations League group by getting 1 point from FaroeLuxembourg. Against the Croats the picture was the same. This is not the technical team this generation deserves.
ENGINE BODY: MILLİ TAKIMLARIN REAL MADRID HIRVATISTAN
Player errors, not coach performance, determined the score.
Ernesto Valverde, former Barcelona coach and current Athletic Bilbao coach, gave a description for Real Madrid about two months ago: “The moment you think you are closest to beating them is the closest they are to beating you.” If Real Madrid football was a national team, I think Croatia would be one of the squads it most resembles. We had studied our pre-match lesson. If we played the game they wanted, it was difficult for us to gain the upper hand. Frankly, I was happy to see Zlatko Dalic’s 11. In addition to the defender duo, who were not used to playing with each other at this level, the two backs had changed according to the Wales game. The back quads seemed to be their most vulnerable spot. We pressured, closed the center well, and left quickly. We forced them into error. We had plenty of positions in the 5th, 7th, 10th minutes, we were stuck with the goalkeeper Livakovic. Kerem Aktürkoğlu’s goal in the 11th was not counted because of VAR – the right decision. We began to believe that we would win.
KEREM-FERD NOT DUE TO DUO
From this point on, we always made mistakes in breaking moments. At 16 Ferdi kidnapped Stanisic. At 20, they missed the right back with a long pass and we saw the goal in our goal. It was Stanisic who once again entered the position at 32. We clearly saw that; Defense aid is low Kerem and Ferdi structure behind him gave a serious deficit in the defense. In fact, all we had to do was follow the center runs correctly. Kovacic scored in both positions without anyone by his side. In the first we focused on the ball, in the second we stopped tracking the position. When you are third in the world, it is difficult to win the match despite such mistakes.
PLANNING WAS PERFECT BUT…
There may be criticisms to Kuntz, but it was player mistakes that determined the score, not the performance of the coach. Our pre-match plan was close to perfect, there could have been different choices in the moves during the match.
