ONE way to describe Turkey's task in taking on Croatia today might be "welcome to hell", for the Croats would have to be at their enigmatic worst to succumb to a shock of Galatasaray-Manchester United proportions at the City Ground, Nottingham this afternoon.
But the Turks are nothing if not optimistic. "Don't write us off as one of the surprise teams," said their coach Fatih Terim. "We believe we can do very well in these finals and might even wear the crown."
Those ready to dispute that would point to the fact that this is the first time Turkey have qualified for the European Championship finals and they are alone in not having one player with a foreign club.
That may change with a successful run in Euro 96, but first they must overcome a Croatia side who on their day can slice through any team, not just Turkey. In qualifying they even won in Italy. But the relationship between the total and the sum of their impressive parts has been a flexible one in the country's brief history and nothing can be taken for granted with the men in the red and white chessboard shirts.
Just look at the build up they got for the recent friendly at Wembley. Only to disappoint again. Now the Croats have learned from that goalless draw and decided that the slow build up which took them to the top of their qualifying group, ahead of Italy, needs to be applied, quicker, more aggressively and with more confidence over the next three weeks.
This is one of the things they have been working on in training as they approach their first finals of a major championship. At the back, the English based Slaven Bilic and his Derby team mate Igor Stimac form, along with Nikola Jerkan, a sweeper unit as watertight and adaptable as any: just five goals conceded in 10 qualifying games. The names ahead are bywords for class if not consistency - Zvonimir Boban, Alen Boksic, Davor Suker, Robert Prosinecki.
The Turkish names are bywords for confusion because back home, players are known by their given name not their family name. So English fans may see the sweeper Ogun Temizkanoglu referred to in the media as Ogun or Temizkanoglu, the side's lone striker Hakan Sukur as Hakan or Sukur. He has a nickname, but the Bull of the Bosphorus is not much more help. Neither is having a Suku and a Suker on the pitch today.
A win for either side would put them top of Group D given the opening draw between Denmark and Portugal. But though the City Ground today will be packed with 20,000 fanatical fans cheering on their hard working, counter attacking side, it is doubtful that tomorrow's papers will be trotting out that cliched old headline Turkish Delight.
