As the remainder of the continent gears up for the UEFA 2024 European Championship (EURO 2024), the Crescent Stars of Türkiye are poised to kick off their marketing campaign Saturday with the hope for a profitable begin towards their neighbors, Armenia, in Group D and one other eye on Tuesday’s encounter towards Croatia.
Since their inception a century in the past, the Crescent Stars have performed a complete of 612 matches, 333 of which had been official video games, and the remaining 279 had been friendlies.
Out of those matches, they’ve registered 236 victories, 145 attracts and 231 losses, together with one forfeit.
The nationwide group has amassed a complete of 832 objectives so far, of which three have been forfeited.
In distinction, they’ve conceded 875 objectives, with 261 away, 268 at residence and 83 on impartial floor.
To date, they’ve competed towards the nationwide groups of 91 distinct nations, taking part in 529 matches towards groups from Europe, 33 towards Asian groups, 24 towards African groups, 23 towards American groups and three towards sides from Oceania.
The solely forfeited victory within the 612 matches was towards Greece, in a match held on Nov. 17, 2015, on the esteemed Başakşehir Fatih Terim Stadium, which resulted in a goalless stalemate.
However, six months later, FIFA declared it a 3-0 victory for Türkiye because of Greece fielding ineligible gamers.
On the flip aspect, a convivial encounter between Türkiye and Kosovo on May 21, 2014, wherein Türkiye emerged victorious with a rating of 6-1, was not taken under consideration as Kosovo had but to turn out to be a member of UEFA and FIFA at the moment.
The upcoming match towards Armenia shall be German coach Stefan Kuntz’s fifteenth match on the helm of the Crescent Stars, having accrued 9 victories, two attracts, and three losses within the earlier 14 matches.
This would be the third time that Türkiye and Armenia have confronted off towards each other within the annals of historical past, with the previous having emerged victorious in each of the earlier encounters.
The two groups had been additionally pitted towards one another within the 2010 World Cup European Qualifications, with Türkiye besting their opponents within the matches performed on the Hrazdan Stadium in Armenia on Sept. 6, 2008, and the Atatürk Stadium in Bursa on Oct. 14, 2009, with objectives courtesy of Tuncay Şanlı, Semih Şentürk, Halil Altıntop, and Servet Çetin.
In these two matches, Türkiye scored 4 objectives, leaving their opponents with no single probability to get on the scoreboard.
The Crescent Stars are a well-known face within the UEFA European Championships as they’ve solely missed the event twice since 1996.
The most up-to-date one was the 2020 post-COVID-19 Euros which noticed Türkiye’s destiny decided as they had been drawn in Group H of the qualifying stage, alongside the then reigning FIFA World Cup champions France, Iceland, Albania, Moldova, and Andorra.
Under the veteran coach Şenol Güneş, the group underwent a large transformation, mixing the youthful exuberance of rising abilities like Burak Yılmaz and Emre Belözoglu with the invaluable expertise of veteran gamers.
His ingenious restructuring of the squad was vindicated, as Türkiye went on to realize one among their most outstanding campaigns in latest reminiscence.
Despite the anticipation of an exhilarating event, the Euro 2020 event acquired off to a disastrous begin when Türkiye, tasked with the excessive honor of opening the festivities, had been soundly defeated 3-0 by the eventual winners, Italy in Group A, with Ciro Immobile and Lorenzo Insigne discovering the again of the web.
Roberto Mancini’s aspect needed to take care of Türkiye’s cussed defensive ways for a lot of the primary half, but had been finally in a position to break by way of within the 53rd minute.
Türkiye went on to lose the following two video games from each Switzerland and Wales.
This time with the brand new coach Stefan Kuntz and a brand new crop of expertise, the Crescent Stars hope to overturn their fortunes.
Source: www.dailysabah.com