Turkey National Team will be at group 5 Here is the WC 2010 Qualify Group 5 Spain Turkey Belgium Bosnia-Herzegovina Armenia Estonia Good luck to the Turkey NT.
Overall I think the group is better for us than four years ago, Spain is the top seed I wanted to be paired with and thankfully we are not in group seven.
Ahh, you opened it right before me! I'm certain if we play our cards right we'll take 2nd place (I think it's impossible to take 1st) and be on our way. There shouldn't be a team we can't beat in other groups' second placed teams.
Yeah I saw that too.just minute before Mate, I think ,if we play our game , we can win against Spain home and away.at least 4 point from two game. There is long time to talk about those games and in a time group all teams squad. Over all: It looks good group. Turkey plays offansive mind football, Spain ,Belgium not play defensive football neither , there for , it will gonna be an interesthing games between thoese team and Turkey. Good luck to the Turkey National Team. Regards.
This does look like a really good group for Turkey. I think it will be a race between Turkey and Spain.
Well, it will be tough to get the top spot, but second spot is not so easy either. Bosna are very good team, they proved it in the Euro quals. The temas at the bottom might hurt us with surprising draws (hmm, maybe, even defeats) since we have a habit of underestimating them and not studying them well. Anyway, even after getting the second spot, we will have to play a play-off against another good 2nd. We lost the last 2 playoffs for WC06 and the Euro04, so I am not very hopeful if we get the 2nd spot. We have to take every single game really really seriously, not just Spain games.
I just saw this thread now so my apologies for replying a little late. The grouping looks challenging enough without the major hurdles that could have been in place. The way I see it, on paper at least, the group is ideal. Spain are obviously the favorites. They have a good team with great players and in the qualifying stages, they always seem to be at their best. But let's be fair at the same time. The game in Spain may be in favor for Spain, but Spanish sides that come to Turkiye for CL or UEFA Cup games don't always come away with automatic wins (and those teams often have other non-Spanish stars supplementing the Spanish side regulars). Then there's Belgium. The perennial rivals. The first thing that came to mind was that famous goal by Oktay (was it for the 1998 World Cup qualifiers?). But that aside, Belgium in recent years has been a shade of the side it was in the 1990s. They might be more analogous to Norway in this past Euro 2008 qualifiers. A challenge because of their physical style. Bosnia will be familiar to Turkiye and that's an advantage (knowing your opponent). I doubt they can cause or stir up a true upset. If it was Croatia or Serbia, I'd be a bit more concerned..but it's not. Armenia, Estonia are cannon-fodder. That's not to be arrogant. It's just reality. They're there to make up the numbers. So my conclusion. The games against Spain (home and away) will determine whether Turkiye finish top or second. A top two finish is almost expected for me. Belgium presents the other challenge. But like I said, they've not done things in years. I'm somewhat biased. But football wise, I think Turkiye (in terms of talent) are second to Spain. Spain however has a tendency to drift into complacency whereas Turkiye can play better as a team when it matters. Haydi Turkiye! Bastir Turkiye!
How we go into the world cup qualifying rounds depends, in large part on how we do in the European Championship. If we play next summer like the team that started and finished the European qualification rounds we will go far in the tournament. And if we have success in the tournament we will have confidence going into the world cup qualification rounds. But if the side that showed up in Moldova and Malta shows up at the tournament the disappointment will carry over to the world cup qualification rounds. The coach will be replaced and the confusion that goes with that will also hurt our preparation.
Fantastic point and something I never thought of as I just predicted based on paper strengths of each sides. Yes, if Turkiye crash out of the group stages and Fatih Terim is replaced, that may instill confusion and create the need to start from scratch yet again. My hope is that this side goes from strength to strength and that young players are nurtured. The day when Turkiye keep on relying on Hakan Sukur (bless him) may have to come to an end but think of the amazing players that wait to take the reins. Would a place in the quarter-finals guarantee Fatih Terim's job as coach?