Temizkanoğlu talks up Turkey

Having kept his promise to senior national coach Fatih Terim to guide Turkey to the UEFA European Under-19 Championship, coach Ogün Temizkanoğlu is in bullish mood ahead of the final tournament in Ukraine, admitting he expects to reach at least the semi-finals.

'Proud and honoured'
Before May's Elite round in Portugal, Temizkanoğlu told Terim that Turkey would collect nine points from their three matches, a feat duly accomplished with victories against Greece, Denmark and the hosts. "I feel proud and honoured that I kept the promise I made to Mr Terim," the coach told uefa.com. "I want to thank the players, because if they weren't working with us this would not have been the case." The team ethic is a theme Temizkanoğlu returns to repeatedly; when asked to explain his side's success in defence and attack in Portugal, he replied: "The midfielders contributed to defending; even our strikers helped. If you can share the load you'll be successful. Goals are scored and defending is done collectively."

Tough section
Turkey face France and Serbia in Group B after opening their campaign against four-time winners Spain in Mariupol on 21 July, and Temizkanoğlu believes that first game will be pivotal to his side's chances. "We can almost say that the best national youth teams are in the same group," he said. "Serbia are resurgent after some problems, and France and Spain are well-recognised names at this level. The first match of any finals is important, so the Spain game is crucial. Our target is to win but if we can't do that we'll at least try not to lose because any points we collect there will increase our morale for the remaining matches. Hopefully we'll beat France and Serbia and advance further in the competition. It's no surprise things get harder as you go on, but I can guarantee that we can get to the semi-finals at least."

'Take us further'
The coach's belief is bolstered by his side's ability to adapt to several formations, explaining: "You can't just stick with one tactic – my team should be able to use three or four tactics successfully. In Portugal we often changed. Sometimes we had one defensive midfielder, sometimes two, or we switched from two strikers to a lone striker. Our biggest advantage is having versatile players who I can put wherever I like. I might introduce one or two new players but I don't intend to modify the squad radically, because consistency is important. My players did very well in qualifying so they all deserve to be in the finals. That's fair; they brought us here and they're going to take us further."