Bullish Turkey look to make amends

Turkey were putting on a confident front at their base in Nyon with Wednesday's crucial Group A game against Switzerland firmly in their sights.

Tough opener
"We came here to prove something," chorused Semih Şentürk and Uğur Boral during their news conference. The Fenerbahçe SK pair started Saturday's 2-0 defeat by Portugal on the bench and although the former came on with 15 minutes left, he could not help his side rescue anything from the contest. However, both insisted that morale was high and that the squad were looking forward to the next challenge. "We couldn't play our normal game against one of the favourites," said Semih. "We couldn't put into practice what our coach Fatih Terim wanted. We were doing it in training but could not realise it during the game. Of course we were very disappointed afterwards. We all watched it again that night."

Starting role
Semih was the Turkish Süper Lig's top scorer this season with 17 goals even though Fenerbahçe coach Zico often used him as an impact substitute – as Terim did against Portugal. However, after the opening reverse, the Turkey coach may be tempted to put him in the starting lineup against the co-hosts. "I had experience of playing alongside Nihat Kahveci from our critical qualifiers against Norway and Bosnia-Herzegovina, but we haven't worked on a partnership in training yet," said the 25-year-old. "If I get a chance to play in the second match, I will play my usual game." 

Confident approach
Uğur Boral was upbeat about Turkey's chances of progress despite the loss. "We have a lot of quality players in our team," the 26-year-old said. "We are professionals and we must play better or we'll be leaving the competition. Our handicap was that we started off against a team with a lot of tournament experience but I am sure we will win the next two matches." Capped eight times, the left-sided player can operate in both midfield and defensive roles but said that wherever he played, the onus was to put his opposite man under pressure. "My philosophy is not thinking too much about their strengths – I have never been afraid of any player. My mentality is that the opponent has to fear me."

Previous encounter
Turkey's last meeting with Switzerland was the infamous FIFA World Cup play-off of 2005 – when Switzerland squeezed through after a bad-tempered second leg in Istanbul – but Uğur Boral insisted that was not even a distant memory. "We have forgotten about what happened. We are going to play a group game against the host nation – that's all." Semih, who scored his first international goal against Finland just before the tournament, added that there would be no room for error in Basel. "We watched Switzerland today on the tapes – they created lots of chances against the Czech Republic but ended up losing. They will want to knock us out, but we know where they can be beaten and I think we can have joy down the flanks. However, if we lose, we can certainly say goodbye to the tournament."