Source: CCTV.com
06-20-2008 13:51
Special Report: 2008 European ChampionshipsUnder-strength Turkey to face Croatia
Quarter-final match will be Turkey taking on Croatia on Friday. Both team trained on Thursday night ahead of their quarter-final meeting. Turkey Coach Fatih Terim will have to make do without two suspended players, while Croatia Coach Slaven Bilic doesn't believe that his side will be favourites to advance to the semi-finals, despite the problems faced by his Turkish counterpart.
The last gasp heroics of Nihat Kahveci in the 3-2 win over the Czech Republic sealed Turkey's quarter-final place in Euro 2008. Group B table-toppers Croatia now lay in wait for a Turkey side that will be without several key players either due to injuries or suspended from the previous match. Fatih Terim however, has plenty of faith in his former number one.
Turkey coach Fatih Terim said, "Well, we don't have Volkan and we don't have Marco, he's important for us too. Servet is not there, he is important, Emre Belozoglu is not playing. Ugur Boral is not playing from the very beginning. So, there are many players who are not going to play tomorrow, but, as I always say there are 23 players in the squad, and everybody has to fill in for everybody else. Rustu is an experienced goalkeeper, he's our captain, he's had experience in tournaments such as this one, so I don't believe he will have any problems."
Croatia play down favourites tag
Croatia topped the final Group B standings with three wins from as many games, including a 2-1 shock over Germany. Those results saw them avoid the dangerous Portuguese and set up a quarter-final meeting with Fatih Terim's Group A runners-up, Turkey. With their opponents suffering through suspensions and injury, Slaven Bilic's side may never have a better opportunity to reach the last four.
But Bilic has already seen Dario Knezevic and Igor Budan ruled out of the competition through injury. And maybe they are two of the reasons why he doesn't believe that Croatia will be favourites when they face a depleted Turkish side.
Croatia coach Slaven Bilic said, "I don't think there are favorites now. We're at the quarter-finals now and we have more sympathy for the other teams, and this applies to all matches in the quarter-finals. All eight sides have come this far after three tough matches, so in none of these quarter-finals there is a clear favorites."
Editor:Zhang Ning
