Bilic wary of resilient Turks

CROATIA coach Slaven Bilic believes Turkey’s two stunning comeback victories during the group shows both the strengths and the weaknesses of their quarter-final opponents.

After losing their opening Euro 2008 fixture 2-0 to Portugal, Turkey had a mountain to climb to make the last eight and hardly made life any easier for themselves against Switzerland and Czech Republic.

Against the Swiss, Turkey trailed at half-time and only snatched a 2-1 thanks to Arda Turan’s injury-time strike, while the Czech match was even more dramatic with Fatih Terim’s men scoring three times in the last 15 minutes to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win.

Those two triumphs helped Turkey claim second place in Group A behind Portugal, but for Croatia coach Bilic they also revealed some potentially useful insights into Terim’s team ahead of tonight’s quarter-final at the Ernst Happel Stadion.

“We know that the Turks came back twice against the Czech Republic and this shows how strong they are, that they have good quality, good morale and they don’t give up,” he said.

“This is certainly reason for praise but this also shows their weaknesses because nobody wants to have to come back.

“Until the match is over we must be fully concentrated and focused until the final whistle.”

Turkey may have rode their luck to get through to the quarter-finals, but Bilic dismissed any suggestions that their opponents are lucky to be at this stage.

When asked to clarify a comment he made about the Turks previously, Bilic said: “I didn’t say that the Turks were lucky to have come this far, at least no luckier than other teams because you always need luck to win.

“The Turks got to the quarter-finals because they deserved it.”

As a player, Bilic was part of the Croatia side that faced Turkey during the 1996 European Championships.

Croatia won that match 1-0 thanks to a late goal from Goran Vlaovic to help qualify for the quarter-finals, where they were knocked out by eventual winners Germany.

Turkey lost all three matches during that tournament, but reached the quarter-finals at Euro 2000 and the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup.

Combining those performances with the displays of some of Turkey‘s club sides in Europe over the last few years, and Bilic believes it is evident they are a nation on the rise.

“It used to be a surprise when Turkey qualified for tournaments, but now it’s the opposite and a surprise if they don’t.” Croatia are sweating over the fitness of midfielder Ivan Rakitic.

Bilic will also be without defender Dario Knezevic and striker Igor Budan through injury.

If Rakitic is passed fit, the coach should revert to the XI which started the tournament after resting most of his team for the final group game against Poland.