Trio back in line for a Turkey place
Friday, November 4, 2011
Article summary
Caner Erkin, Ozan İpek and Halil Altıntop are back in contention after Guus Hiddink named his 24-man squad for Turkey's EURO play-off against Croatia on 11 and 15 November.
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Caner Erkin, Ozan İpek and Halil Altıntop are in contention to feature in Turkey's UEFA EURO 2012 play-off against Croatia after being brought back into Guus Hiddink's squad.
Fenerbahçe SK midfielder Caner and Bursaspor winger Ozan were last called up for a friendly against Romania in August 2010, but have caught the eye with recent domestic performances. Trabzonspor AŞ forward Halil Altıntop is also in line to play in the two-legged tie on 11 and 15 November having last represented his country when he earned his 38th cap in a 1-0 qualifying defeat in Azerbaijan in October 2010.
Real Madrid CF midfielder Nuri Şahin misses out since he has yet to recover match fitness after shaking off a knee injury. Gökhan Zan (hamstring) and Yekta Kurtuluş (cruciate ligament) are also out of the picture.
Turkey squad
Goalkeepers: Volkan Demirel (Fenerbahçe SK), Sinan Bolat (R. Standard de Liège), Tolga Zengin (Trabzonspor AŞ).
Defenders: Gökhan Gönül (Fenerbahçe SK), Sabri Sarıoğlu (Galatasaray AŞ), Servet Çetin (Galatasaray AŞ), Ömer Toprak (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Egemen Korkmaz (Beşiktaş JK), Giray Kaçar (Trabzonspor AŞ), Hakan Balta (Galatasaray AŞ), İsmail Köybaşı (Beşiktaş JK).
Midfielders: Hamit Altıntop (Real Madrid CF), Gökhan Töre (Hamburger SV), Selçuk Şahin (Fenerbahçe SK), Mehmet Topal (Valencia CF), Emre Belözoğlu (Fenerbahçe SK), Caner Erkin (Fenerbahçe SK), Selçuk İnan (Galatasaray AŞ), Arda Turan (Club Atlético de Madrid), Ozan İpek (Bursaspor).
Forwards: Burak Yılmaz (Trabzonspor AŞ), Colin Kazım Richards (Galatasaray AŞ), Umut Bulut (Toulouse FC), Halil Altıntop (Trabzonspor AŞ).
