Turkish Football Commentator: "The European Championship is Open to Surprises"

Aydın İshleyen, head of the sports department of the Turkish "Yeni Çağ" newspaper, evaluated the progress of the 2024 European Football Championship held in the Federal Republic of Germany for the Turan Information Agency.

«From Georgia's perspective, the negative aspect was playing against Spain"

"The fact that the 2024 European Football Championship is held in one country is very good. Previously, holding it in several countries caused disorganization. Therefore, the atmosphere in the current championship is beautiful. All the national teams played with the logic of advancing from the group, preferring cautious football. Interestingly, aside from the five major European countries, the national teams of smaller countries showed very good football. For instance, Austria topped the group that included the Netherlands and France. In the round of 16, they will play against the Turkish national team. Switzerland also showed very good football and managed to advance from the group. Turkey played poorly against Portugal in its group. Surprises came at the last moments. It was surprising that the reigning European champion Italy played very poorly and bid farewell to the championship. Georgia, participating in the European Championship for the first time, did not stop there and advanced from the group, making a big surprise. Turkey was lucky in the first game; Georgia could have won as well. After that, they defeated Portugal and drew with the Czech Republic. Georgia being among the 16 teams is a historic event for the country's football. Playing against Spain was the negative aspect."

«In modern football, the fight until the last second is in the foreground"

"As for Turkey's situation, it should be viewed from both the full and empty sides of the glass. We defeated Georgia but played very poorly and lost to Portugal. In the last game, when we were drenched in cold sweat, we managed to beat the Czech Republic, which played with 10 players, scoring a goal in the last minutes. Anything can happen in our game against Austria. Turkey has this characteristic: just as it can defeat the strongest teams in Europe and the world, it can also lose to the weakest teams. There is no system in the Turkish national team. Coach Montella made Barış Alper passive by playing him in attack but corrected his mistake in the last game. Football is like life; just as our expectations in life do not always come true, football is also a sport open to different results. Look at what happened to the Italian national team. Although football commentators show Austria as the superior team in this game, Turkey's chances of winning are not low. It’s a game to be played. If we win, we will play against the winner of the Netherlands-Romania game. Actually, our path is clear because there is no Germany, France, or Spain in our way. If we perform our duties correctly, we can reach the final. In this regard, I can say we are in a good position. In the 2020 championship, the team that played in the final, Britain, almost lost; they managed to get out of the situation in the last minutes. If everything goes well for Turkey, we might also play against Britain. Turkey is a country that loves surprises, anything can happen. Football is one of the most loved sports because it is open to all kinds of surprises. In modern football, the fight until the last second is in the foreground. It is not the era of stars now but the era of teams that fight until the end."