Nihat granted Turkey return
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Article summary
Turkey coach Fatih Terim has included Villarreal CF forward Nihat Kahveci in his 22-man squad ahead of their friendly match against Romania on Wednesday.
Article body
Nihat return
With forthcoming UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying matches against Malta and Hungary in mind, Terim resisted the temptation to experiment with new players, although Nihat has not played for his country since coming on in the 5-0 win against Moldova last October due to a knee injury that hampered much of last season. Turkey are in third place in Group C with 13 points and a game in hand over the top two. Greece lead the group with 18 points from seven matches while, like Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina have 13 points. Turkey travel to Malta on 8 September before hosting Hungary four days later.
Turkey squad
Goalkeepers: Hakan Arıkan (Beşiktaş JK), Serdar Kulbilge (Fenerbahçe SK), Rüştü Reçber (Beşiktaş JK)
Defenders: Servet Çetin (Galatasaray SK), Sabri Sarıoğlu (Galatasaray SK), İbrahim Toraman (Beşiktaş JK), İbrahim Üzülmez (Beşiktaş JK), Volkan Yaman (Galatasaray SK), Gökhan Zan (Beşiktaş JK)
Midfielders: Hamit Altıntop (FC Bayern München), Mehmet Aurelio (Fenerbahçe SK), Emre Belözoğlu (Newcastle United FC), Hüseyin Çimşir (Trabzonspor), Gökdeniz Karadeniz (Trabzonspor), Tümer Metin (Fenerbahçe SK), Tuncay Şanlı (Middlesbrough FC), Mehmet Topuz (Kayserispor), Arda Turan (Galatasaray SK)
Forwards: Halil Altıntop (FC Schalke 04), Nihat Kahveci (Villarreal CF), Hakan Şükür (Galatasaray SK), Gökhan Ünal (Kayserispor)