The Turkish football squad arrived in Malta yesterday morning to play against our national team tomorrow at the National Stadium in a EURO 2008 qualifying match from Group C (Kick off 7.30pm).
This is the return match played last September in Frankfurt (then Turkey were banned to play at home) which they won 2-0.
The 25-man strong Turkish squad includes experienced, as well as popular, names such as goalkeeper Rustu Recbar from Besiktas, midfielders Tuncay Sanli of Middlesbrough, Emre Belozoglu of Newcastle and Hamit Altintop of Bayern Munich, as well as their prolific veteran striker Hakan Sukur, who plays for Galatasaray.
Well known coach Fatih Terim has also recalled Villarreal striker Nihat Kahveci after a long lay off due to surgery for torn ligaments in his knee.
The match against Malta is of utmost importance for Turkey, who move alone to second place in the qualifying Group, and close the gap on leaders Greece, if they beat us tomorrow.
Turkey play Hungary next Wednesday.
In preparation for tomorrow’s match, the Turkish squad held a training session yesterday evening at the MFA Training Grounds and will be holding another one today at the National Stadium at 7pm.
The Turkish contingent is staying at the SAS Radisson Golden Sands.
The Turkish squad was accompanied by several enthusiastic Turkish followers who will surely give their full vociferous support at Ta’ Qali, where they will be joined by other Turks residing in Malta.
Malta is expected to give a decent challenge to such strong opponents and hopefully a numerous and cheerful crowd will turn up for the match.
The referee of the Malta-Turkey match will be Austrian Stefan Messner.
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Turkey squad
Goalkeepers: Rustu Recber , Hakan Arikan (Besiktas), Serkan Kirintili (Ankaragucu).
Defenders: Ibrahim Toraman, Ibrahim Uzulmez (Besiktas), Servet Cetin, Sabri Sarioglu (Galatasaray), Deniz Baris (Fenerbahce), Hayrettin Yerlikaya (Sivasspor).
Midfielders: Mehmet Aurelio (Fenebahce), Tuncay Sanli (Middlesbrough), Gokdeniz Karadeniz, Huseyin Cimisir (Trabzonspor), Hamit Altintop (Bayern Munich), Nuri Sahin (Feyenoord), Emre Belozoglu (Newcastle U.), Arda Turan, Ayhan Akman (Galatasaray), Serdar Ozkan (Besiktas), Mehmet Topuz (Kayserispor).
Forwards: Hakan Sukur (Galatasaray), Gokhan Unal (Kayserispor), Hakan Kadir Balta (Vestel Manisaspor), Halil Altintop (Schalke 04), Nihat Kahveci (Villarreal).