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Turkish coach sees Turkey's match with Greece as national match


Turkish national soccer team coach Fatih Terim said on Monday that he sees Turkey's match with Greece as a national match not as a national cause.

Terim made the remarks at a press conference in Polat Renaissance Hotel in Istanbul regarding 2008 European Football Championship qualifying Group C match between Greece and Turkey on Saturday in the Greek capital Athens, according to the semi-official Anatolia news agency.

He said that the upcoming qualifiers with Greece and Norway are of great importance in terms of Turkey's place in the group and also for the forthcoming matches.

"We, altogether, are trying to detach this match from getting perceived as a national cause, diminishing the pressure on our players. This is not a national cause but a national match" said Terim.

"We don't have a strategy like 'a tie is good for us'. Our target is to get the best result but we do not know where the conditions would take us," Terim said.

Following are the Turkey squad for the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Greece and Norway:

Goalkeepers: Hakan Arikan (Ankaraspor), Volkan Demirel (Fenerbahce), Orkun Usak (Kayseri Erciyesspor)

Defenders: Emre Asik (Galatasaray), Servet Cetin (Sivasspor), Huseyin Cimsir (Trabzonspor), Bekir Irtegun (Gaziantepspor), Nuri Sahin (Borussia Dortmund/GER), Ibrahim Toraman (Besiktas), Ibrahim Uzulmez (Besiktas), Gokhan Zan (Besiktas)

Midfielders: Hamit Altintop (Schalke 04/GER), Mehmet Aurelio (Fenerbahce), Emre Belozoglu (Newcastle United/ENG), Ferdi Elmas (Rizespor), Gokdeniz Karadeniz (Trabzonspor), Tugay Kerimoglu (Blackburn Rovers/ENG), Sabri Sarioglu (Galatasaray), Mehmet Topuz (Kayserispor), Arda Turan (Galatasaray)

Strikers: Tumer Metin (Fenerbahce), Tuncay Sanli (Fenerbahce), Hakan Sukur (Galatasaray), Fatih Tekke (Zenit Petersburg/RUS), Gokhan Unal (Kayserispor), Mehmet Yildiz (Sivasspor)