Euro 2024’s grateful eight completed by Turkey’s glorious melting pot
TALKING TURKEY (AGAIN)
The European Championships has a big problem: how are they going to fit 3,000,000 Turks inside the Olympiastadion (capacity 74,475) for their quarter-final against the Netherlands on Saturday? Germany hosts the largest Turkish diaspora in the world, making the likes of Berlin, Munich and Cologne – just to name a few – glorious melting pots. No wonder Lukas Podolski opened his own chain of kebab shops in the country. The former Arsenal forward is now worth £180m thanks to Mangal Doner, where you can get a Podolski sandwich for less than £7.
Not only is there Turkish influence in Germany but also a little bit of Deutschland in Vincenzo Montella’s squad. Five players – Cenk Tosun, Hakan Calhanoglu, Salih Ozcan, Kenan Yildiz and Kaan Ayhan – were born in the country they are currently winning hearts and minds in. Merih Demiral might have scored twice to double his international tally but the real hero in their 2-1 victory over Austria was Mert Gunok who, in the final moments, dived to the right and produced one of the saves of the decade from a Christoph Baumgartner header, sparking wild celebrations from Leipzig to Istanbul and Dalston to Gaziantep. Everyone sprinted to celebrate with their new hero at full-time, knowing that he had saved the nation (and the diaspora). If Podolski, who played three seasons in Turkey, has managed to name a kebab after himself, surely Gunok deserves at least a shop in his honour.
When the odds are against them, the Turkish come to the fore. Everyone had Austria as outright favourites, but within a minute of the match Montella’s side were proving them wrong. Where the country further seems to excel is in being able to sneak pyrotechnics inside stadiums, regardless of security levels and finger wagging from suits. It feels like whenever a Turkey player wins a tackle red smoke billows from the stands to show there is no party without pyro. In Ankara and Istanbul there was a big screen set up for thousands to watch – if they could see through the Turkey flags being waved throughout the crowd, at least. There was even one man in the capital watching with a parrot on his shoulder. No parrot, no party.
“Besides our formation, our gameplan and our tactics I saw Turkish heart today, and that’s what I love about this country,” whooped Montella, who must now prepare for their last-eight encounter without midfielder Orkun Kokcu – a former Dutch captain at youth level – because he is sat on the suspension naughty step for too many bookings. Kokcu is further evidence of the reach Turkey has across the world. Whatever happens on Saturday night, the tournament has been the richer for it, but if they do manage to down Ronald Koeman and co, the pyros and car horns will be seen and heard across the continent and beyond.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
In the dressing room there’s a bit of music, maybe we’ll have a drink … when you lose you feel bad, so it’s nice to win” – Donyell Malen shows the Dutch still have that liberal streak as he suggests the squad might get on the Tin after their 3-0 win over Romania.
EURO 2024 DAILY LETTERS
Euro 2024 peaked last night. Thanks Turkey and Austria!” – Krishna Moorthy.
Can I put in a plea to give our brave England lads a break please? Part one – Slovenia: when we didn’t score against them it was because we were rubbish, with rubbish players and a rubbish manager who should have dealt with lowly Slovenia easily but didn’t because – you know, rubbish. When Portugal didn’t score against Slovenia it was because Slovenia are obdurate masters of defence on the back of a nine-game unbeaten streak, and are actually really hard to break down. Surely the same Slovenia played both games? Give our lads a break! Part two – Slovakia: nobody yet has highlighted the unbelievable odds we were up against in the Slovakia game when talking about our famous victory. Firstly, Slovakia were playing in blue shirts, and secondly the game was taking place on ITV. Double kryptonite for England teams. Give Gareth’s brave soldiers a break!” – Pete Smith.
Cristiano Ronaldo seems to think that calling himself CR7 reminds people he was the football equivalent of a supercar. CR7 sounds like a pokey but aggressively styled and overpriced crossover sport-utility vehicle aimed at dads who don’t want to be seen driving a minivan. On second thought, it’s perfect” – Mark Matics.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Mark Matics, who wins a copy of Euro Summits: The Story of the Uefa European Championships 1960 to 2016, by Pitch Publishing. Visit their bookshop here. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.
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