Turkey, officially known as Türkiye, is celebrating its return to the World Cup for the first time since 2002, thanks to a new 'golden generation' of players. The team's remarkable run to the semi-finals 24 years ago, where they lost to eventual champions Brazil, remains their last appearance at the tournament. That campaign also featured Hakan Şükür scoring the fastest goal in World Cup history (11 seconds) in the third-place play-off victory against co-hosts South Korea.
Şükür, arguably Turkey's greatest ever player, now lives in California, where he runs a cafe and works as an Uber driver. He fled his homeland after a rift with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, following his association with Fethullah Gülen, whom Erdoğan blamed for orchestrating the failed 2016 coup. Şükür has been largely erased from Turkish football history; during the play-off game against Romania earlier this year, he was omitted from a tifo honouring the 2002 squad.
Ahmet Bob Turgut, a Turkish-American journalist who runs the Turkish Football Podcast, believes the current squad is the best since 2002. 'We've never had so many young stars who came up from below together,' he said, highlighting players like Arda Güler (21) of Real Madrid, Kenan Yıldız (21) of Juventus, and captain Hakan Çalhanoğlu (32) of Inter Milan. Goalkeeper Uğurcan Çakır of Galatasaray is also considered one of Europe's top ten goalkeepers.
Manager Vincenzo Montella has drawn comparisons to legendary coach Fatih Terim. 'He's probably the best coach after Fatih Terim,' Ahmet added. 'The players like him, the federation is behind him.' Montella led Turkey through a tense play-off campaign, beating Romania and Kosovo to secure qualification.
Turkey now faces a group containing the USA, Paraguay, and Australia. Ahmet is confident: 'Getting out of the group should be no problem. The last 16 would be a success, but if we see Turkey in the quarter-finals, it wouldn't be a surprise.' The team can expect strong support, though ticket prices may be a concern.
