Turkey boss Senol Gunes: We were not good enough but success will come

By Sports Desk June 20, 2021

Turkey boss Senol Gunes admitted his team "were not good enough" after a desperate Euro 2020 campaign ended with a third straight group-stage defeat.

Having already lost to Italy and Wales in their opening two fixtures, Turkey crashed out without a single point to their name as they were beaten 3-1 by Switzerland on Sunday.

Speaking after the match, Gunes shared his belief that Turkey never recovered from a 3-0 defeat to Italy first up, though he insisted his young squad will be capable of delivering in future tournaments.

He said: "We are aware that we were not good enough. The first match had such a negative effect on my players. That can happen.

"But those players will play for Turkey for many years and they will succeed like before."

Turkey's squad was among the youngest in the tournament, and Milan playmaker Hakan Calhanoglu echoed the sentiments of his manager 

"This tournament was such a disappointment for us. We have to learn from our mistakes but we won't lower our heads," he said.

"This is a very young team and it will definitely get better."

After firing Lille to a shock Ligue 1 title success this season, Turkey striker Burak Yilmaz failed to find the back of the net in Euro 2020.

The 35-year-old suggested he and his countrymen have lessons to learn if they are to succeed at the top level.

He said: "We could not handle playing in such a big tournament, I have to admit.

"We've qualified for the Euros, we are going really well in World Cup qualification, but I can see that we need to learn how to play these tournaments.

"That's a lesson we have to learn."

Switzerland came into their meeting with Turkey knowing that only a win would give them any chance of progressing to the knockout stages, after also losing 3-0 to Italy and being held by Wales.

And they were dragged to all three points by Xherdan Shaqiri, who scored once in each half to keep his country's hopes alive.

Reflecting on the match, Shaqiri said: "It was very important to show a reaction after the game against Italy and be more unified as a team.

"We did that from the very beginning and played our game."

Despite their best efforts, Switzerland were only able to secure third place in the group as Wales kept hold of second place by only suffering a 1-0 defeat to Italy.

Now the Swiss face a nervous wait to see if they are able to progress as one of four best third-placed teams.

Shaqiri added: "We have to wait for the other games to see what's going to happen. We just to wait and hope it will be enough to reach the next round and then we will have to start again."

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