Terim Confident Despite Injuries

From Friday's Turkish Daily News....

Turkey national squad coach Fatih Terim declares that the number uanvailable players will not be an excuse for a possible failure in Saturday’s match against Greece

The high number of injured players in the Turkish national soccer squad might be a huge disadvantage in Saturday's Euro 2008 Qualifying Group C game at Greece; coach Fatih Terim, however, has said he would not complain.

Zenith Petersburg striker Fatih Tekke, midfielder Nuri Şahin of Borussia Dortmund, Halil Altıntop, İbrahim Akın of Beşiktaş, Galatsaray's Arda Turan and Schakle 04 midfielder Yıldıray Baştürk will all be unavailable for Saturday.

Speaking in an interview with Galatsaray TV, Fatih Terim rejected the idea that he was the kind of coach that moans about injuries, asserting a team should never be considered incomplete until there were not enough players for a starting XI.

Greece is no longer a defensive team:
Commenting on Saturday's opponent, Terim stated that Greece's playing mentality has changed a lot since claiming the title at Euro 2004. “Greece starts with three attackers and they are not playing on the counter attack as they used to do.”

Turkey's coach also praised Greece, saying, “They have skillful players like Georgios Samaras and Stylianos Giannakopoulos and nine out of their regular starters are playing in different European leagues.” However, Terim added that the first thing he cares about is the performance of his own team, not the opponent.

As a response to critics commenting about the selection of Emre Aşık to the national squad, Terim backed his player by underlining the Galatasaray defender's recent form.

Terim also said that he has been a great asset for Emre Belözoğlu, who was cleared of racism charges mid-week. “Emre called me after the first claims,” he explained, “Then I contacted Italian and Spanish officials, wrote a reference letter with former his teammates Clarence Seedorf's and Mohammed Kallon's signatures to help him in his defense.”

The former Galatasaray coach avoided any definitive comments on the championship race in the Turkcell Super League.