Turkey National Team EURO 2021 – All Important Information

June 14, 2021

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Turkey - Euro 2021 - Lineup. Learn about form of the Turkey team, lineup, stats and much more.

Turkey National Team EURO 2021 – All Important Information

The Turkey National Team is ready to show their good form on the field at this upcoming major tournament. They will put all their efforts into the upcoming matches in order to improve their reputations after their relegation from the Nations League.

In the EURO 2020 qualifications Group H, Turkey ended in the second place. Expectedly, the France National Team secured the first place in the group.

Senol Gunes has returned to try to, at least, repeat the major success from the 2002 World Cup, when Turkey ended in third place. In 2008, Turkey managed to reach the semi-finals, so this time they are aiming for more.

It’s clear that Gunes is very proud of his talented squad and will definitely manage to inspire his team to ‘bring the extravaganza to the turf’, or, in other words, to show their power on the grass.

Will Guns be able to do so? What can we expect from the Turkey National Team in this major tournament this summer? Check out all the important information about their team!

Football Manager of the Turkey National Team

Senol Gunes is former player and the current football manager of the Turkey National Team. He’s worldwide famous for his amazing managerial achievements. He led his nation to the third place in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and has managed to win 2 Super Lig titles with Besiktas football team.

He started his managing career in 1988 as an assistant manager of Trabzonspor. During his career, before becoming the manager of the Turkey National Team in 2019 (for the second time since 2000) he managed Boluspor, İstanbulspor, Antalyaspor, Turkey National Team, FC Seoul, Bursaspor, and Besiktas.

After winning third place in the 2002 World Cup, Gunes earned UEFA’s Coach of the Year award for that same year. It’s the biggest success in his career so far. During the EURO 2020 Qualifications, he earned another gold star.

Despite the fact that later that autumn, Turkey finished at the bottom of their Nations League group, Turkey relies on the rich coaching experience to, at least, repeat the success from 2002.

Turkey Possible Lineup for the European Championship

The lineup of the Turkey National Team will probably look like this: Cakir will be on the goal, heavily protected by the defenders, Soyuncu, R. Yilmaz, Celik, and Kabak. In the midfield we can expect to see Tufan, Çalhanoğlu, Yokuşlu, Yazici. B. Yılmaz and Under will be in the front line, focused on scoring as many goals as possible.

The Key Player of the Turkey National Team

When the full squad is so talented and successful, it’s hard to point out only one key player of the team. However, we have to admit that the 35-year-old Burak Yilmaz, current striker of Lille, is one of the most valuable players in the squad and one of the best strikers of Turskish football. He scored 16 goals in Lille’s Ligue 1. According to his 29 goals as of 2021, Yılmaz is Turkey’s second all-time highest goalscorer. The first one is Hakan Şükür.

Besides Yilmaz, the current attacking midfielder of the Serie A club Milan and the Turkey National Team, Hakan Calhanoglu is also among the most valuable footballers in the squad. He racked up 9 assists with AC Milan and was one of the key players to secure Champions League participation.

We shouldn’t forget to mention the Leicester City defender, Caglar Soyuncu, who is considered to be one of the Premier League’s most complete centre-backs.

The Full Squad of the Turkey National Team

Goalkeepers: Uğurcan Çakır (Trabzonspor), Altay Bayındır (Fenerbahçe), Mert Günok (İstanbul Başakşehir)

Defenders: Mert Müldür (Sassuolo), Rıdvan Yılmaz (Beşiktaş), Umut Meraş (Le Havre), Kaan Ayhan (Sassuolo), Zeki Çelik (LOSC Lille), Merih Demiral (Juventus), Ozan Kabak (Liverpool), Çağlar Söyüncü (Leicester)

Midfielders: Taylan Antalyalı (Galatasaray), Dorukhan Toköz (Beşiktaş), Hakan Çalhanoğlu (AC Milan), Halil Dervişoğlu (Brentford), İrfan Can Kahveci (Fenerbahçe), Orkun Kökçü (Feyenoord), Abdülkadir Ömür (Trabzonspor), Ozan Tufan (Fenerbahçe), Okay Yokuşlu (West Brom)

Forwards: Yusuf Yazıcı (LOSC Lille), Burak Yılmaz (LOSC Lille), M. Kerem Aktürkoğlu (Galatasaray), Kenan Karaman (Fortuna Düsseldorf), Enes Ünal (Getafe), Cengiz Ünder (Leicester)

Tactics & Form of the Turkey National Team for the EURO 2021

When it comes to the tactics of the Turkey National Team for the EURO 2021, we have to consider that they have managed to collect just 1 single win across 8 international outgoings between September and November. Gunes experimented with the various systems, such as: 4-2-3-1, then 4-4-2.

However, their biggest success was achieved with the following 4-3-3 system, but even that was far from the winnings.

They only managed to edge Russia with the following result 3-2. Regarding their current form, we can tell they’re performing very well on the field, since they’ve managed to lose only once, 2-1 against Iceland and won 7 times, including a 2-0 win against the world champions France.