President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has showered reward on the Turkish nationwide soccer workforce for his or her valiant effort on the Euro 2024 in Germany.
He lauded the nationwide workforce as “our champions” after a slim 2-1 defeat towards the Netherlands within the European championships quarterfinals.
Erdoğan visited the workforce post-match late Saturday within the dressing room in Berlin’s Olympiastadion. He had flown in for the match along with the primary girl Emine Erdoğan.
“I congratulate all of you. You are our champions regardless of today’s result,” Turkish media quoted Erdoğan as telling the gamers.
Erdoğan stated the workforce has potential and “we will continue this work in the future.”
The president shook arms with all gamers, together with defender Merih Demiral, who missed the match as a result of a controversial two-game suspension imposed by the ruling physique UEFA for making a Turkic wolf salute after scoring within the last-16 match towards Austria.
Erdoğan stated earlier within the week that Demiral had solely proven his “enthusiasm” with the gesture.
Turkish workforce supervisor Hamit Altıntop advised Magenta TV that the wolf salute affair was not the rationale why Erdoğan had come.
“It was already agreed beforehand that our head of state wanted to come to this match. That has nothing to do with the incident or UEFA’s decision,” Altıntop stated.
The wolf salute is wrongly attributed, amongst different issues, to a far-right extremist motion within the West.
Türkiye go away Euro 2024 having laden the event with their spirit and vitality and gained the hearts of soccer lovers all around the world, coach Vincenzo Montella stated after the match towards the Dutch.
“Since the start of the championship, our team spirit and the support of our fans were unparalleled. We are very proud. The way our team played, interpreted and adapted to the game was great. We had a dream and we were very close to it,” Montella advised reporters.
“We need to protect the way we play and our character as a team and take it to the next Championships,” the Italian added.
Türkiye took the lead within the thirty fifth minute after the Dutch didn’t clear a nook, leaving Arda Güler to cross completely to the again submit for defender Samet Akaydın to go residence.
Dutch defender Stefan de Vrij equalized with a robust header within the seventieth minute, nonetheless, earlier than an personal purpose by Mert Müldür accomplished the Dutch comeback.
Proud to point out spirit
Türkiye’s memorable run at Euro 2024 included three wins and eight objectives.
“We must be proud of our team. They played with great spirit, with Turkish spirit, so we feel the love of the Turkish people and I am proud of them. We deserve it,” Montella stated.
“After these Euros, Türkiye will be seen with different eyes in the future, probably with more respect,” he added.
“The players have acquired a lot of experience. For how we played and what we showed. There is a great sympathy in Türkiye for this team and by other football lovers in other countries. This is just the foundation, we need to keep growing. The future is on our side,” he stated.
Montella additionally praised the Turkish followers for creating a house ambiance in Berlin, the place some 200,000 individuals with Turkish roots stay.
Turkish followers have been the bulk on the Olympiastadion. “The atmosphere is always like home. They supported us until the end, but this pride, this passion toward the team has been seen from day one, not only during matches,” Montella stated.
“What makes me really proud is seeing that even after the defeat the people showed love for what we showed during the tournament. That gives me a lot of joy. We need to keep fuelling this passion with our performance. Then you can either win or lose.”
“We need to keep growing, keep improving, because the future is on our side,” stated Montella.
Source: www.dailysabah.com