New blood boosts Turkey

By Türker Tozar

Erdinç Yavuz and Güven Varol have received their first call-ups for Turkey's games against Greece and Kazakhstan.

New arrivals
Trabzonspor defender Erdinç and Denizlispor midfielder Güven are both Under-21 internationals and could be handed senior debuts in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Ersun Yanal's side lie third in Group 2, two points adrift of Greece and five behind Ukraine.

Rising stars
Although injury-prone, the 26-year-old Erdinç has impressed in his 20 appearances for Trabzonspor this term. The 23-year-old Güven, meanwhile, has been one of the stars of the Turkish season having joined Denizlispor from third division Beykozspor last summer.

Serhat returns
Yanal is without defender Servet Çetin and striker Nihat Kahveci because of injuries, with 24-year-old Fenerbahçe SK forward Serhat Akin returning to the squad to replace the latter. Turkey play Greece at home on 4 June before visiting Kazakhstan four days later.

Turkey squad
Rüstü (Fenerbahçe SK), Ümit Özat (Fenerbahçe SK), Tuncay (Fenerbahçe SK), Volkan (Fenerbahçe SK), Serhat (Fenerbahçe SK), Serkan (Fenerbahçe SK), Fatih Tekke (Trabzonspor), Gökdeniz (Trabzonspor), Tolga (Trabzonspor), Hüseyin (Trabzonspor), Erdinç (Trabzonspor), Bülent (Galatasaray SK), Necati (Galatasaray SK), Cihan (Galatasaray SK), Ayhan (Galatasaray SK), Okan (Besiktas JK), Ibrahim Toraman (Besiktas JK), Koray (Besiktas JK), Ömer (Gaziantepspor), Güven (Denizlispor), Emre (FC Internazionale Milano), Yildiray (Hertha BSC Berlin), Hamit Altintop (FC Schalke 04), Halil Altintop (1. FC Kaiserslautern).