Turkey’s Euro 2016 campaign got off to a rocky start as they were soundly defeated 1-0 by a superior Croatia side.
The scoreline flattered the Turks somewhat as Croatia missed a host of chances, relying on a wonderstrike from Luka Modric to claim the three points. In truth, though, it could easily have been 4-0 or even worse. It’s no surprise that Turkey came out poorly from our first set of tournament power rankings.
Despite the hype that comes at the start of a tournament for every team, Turkey’s key players just failed to show up on Sunday as they were handily disposed of by their Group D rivals.
One man in particular who failed to rise to the occasion was Barcelona midfielder Arda Turan, who has come out and apologised to his country’s fans after a disappointing performance which saw him substituted just after the hour mark.
“I didn’t play well today, but my team-mates fought well. I apologise to the Turkish people,” Turan said after Sunday’s defeat.
“Croatia have a good team. We did everything we could and we could have grabbed a draw, but we leave with our heads up. We can still get out of the group and achieve something important.
“We have to be united. We’ve played well, but on occasions it’s the individuals that make the difference. I hope we play better against Spain and that we can win.”
Turkey’s next game is against Spain on Friday, before they meet Czech Republic in their final group game on Tuesday June 21.
