Turkey has made a dream start. After the 3:1 win against Georgia, the euphoria knows no bounds. Former national team player Yildiray Bastürk in an interview.

Turkey has made a dream start. After the 3:1 win against Georgia, the euphoria knows no bounds. However, some of the 50,000 Turkish fans in Dortmund whistled during the opponent’s anthem, causing some displeasure. Former Turkish international Yildiray Bastürk, who lives in Bochum, watched the game in the stadium and has a clear opinion on this as well as on team manager Hamit Altintop.

Forecasting: “Yildiray Bastürk, has your euphoria subsided a little after the opening win, or are you still high on adrenaline?”

I played for the national team myself for a long time and am also a spectator at BVB from time to time, where there is always a fantastic atmosphere. But this was a whole new level and nobody who was there will forget it in a hurry.

How do you rate the game from a Turkish perspective?

A win at the start is always important, of course. It was a good start, even if the game could have gone differently in the end. We had a lot of possession, especially in the phases when the game was tied, and we ran the ball well. None of that was clear beforehand. After all, we also had a few injuries during the training camp. But you can see that we’ve made progress. However, we also conceded a few too many chances at the back. We have to work on that.

What do you think the team is capable of?

I think we can reach the round of 16. And then it always depends a little on the opponents that come after that. We have a very young and hungry team, the youngest of all the participants. With the euphoria from the Georgia game and the support of the fans, the team may be able to surpass itself. Even if it will be a completely different game against Portugal on Saturday. We won’t have the ball as much there. But maybe that suits us even better. The Czech Republic showed us how it could be done.

Hamit Altintop, a team manager from Gelsenkirchen, is the “Milli Takim” …

I very much wish my friend Hamit success. He is doing a great job on the board of the Turkish Football Association. He has repeatedly called for the work with young players to be more structured and is not afraid to speak clearly and openly. That is why he is not viewed uncritically. But he is leading the way and it is also thanks to him that we are in the final round. This is important in order to be able to take further steps so that we can regularly take part in all major tournaments again in the future. Because, like everywhere else, you need success.

The fact that the Turkish fans whistled during their opponents’ national anthem was not well received by the opponents and neutral spectators. What do you think of that?

That shouldn’t and hopefully won’t happen again in the next few games. Despite all the euphoria, we must not lose decency and respect for other teams and nations. Our players set a good example and used gestures to ask the fans to stop, so it got a lot quieter afterwards. But despite all the support for your own team, that’s not the right thing to do