NJ Sports Talk

Turkey- Group A

Current FIFA World Ranking:  25

Key Players:  Tuncay Sanli-FWD, Emre Belozoglu-MID, Nihat Kaveci-FWD

Group Stage Schedule:  6/7 vs Portugal, 6/11 vs Switzerland, 6/15 vs Czech Republic

Macho’s Take:  Turkey didn’t play well in qualifying but still managed to finish 2nd in their group behind Greece.  They will need to overcome the loss of Hakan Sukur offensively, and need several young players to fill prominent roles.  They always have a talented squad who continually give the bigger teams problems with their passing and play on the ball.  I feel if players like Nihat and Tuncay can step up and score goals, they have a good chance of surprising the Czechs and going into the next round.