On Saturday, Turkey will play the Netherlands for a place in the semi-finals. Merih Demiral's controversial goal celebration against Austria disrupts the preparations. The wolf salute becomes a national affair.
One win separates Turkey from its third semi-final at a final tournament after the 2002 World Cup and the 2008 European Championship, but in the days leading up to the match against the Netherlands on Saturday evening (21:00), almost everything in the Turkish camp revolved around Merih Demiral's wolf salute during his goal celebration in the round of 16 against Austria.
The fact that UEFA (also) classified the salute as a gesture by the right-wing extremist Turkish movement "Grey Wolves" and the association sanctioned the defender on Friday caused such a stir in Turkey that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also got involved in the discussion.
Racism, conspiracy, enthusiasm
UEFA argued that Demiral had "failed to comply with the general principles of conduct, violated the basic rules of good behavior, used sporting events for non-sporting rallies and brought football into disrepute". Erdogan countered that the goalscorer had merely shown his enthusiasm with the gesture. Demiral himself said that he had only wanted to express how proud he was.
Double standards were being applied, Erdogan accused UEFA. "Does anyone wonder why the German national jersey has an eagle and the French jersey has a rooster?" The Turkish Foreign Ministry sensed racism and a conspiracy against his country and stated: "This decision has reinforced the assessment that the tendency towards prejudiced behavior towards foreigners is increasing in some European countries."
The piqued president announced that he would be traveling to Berlin for the match. In view of the fact that the "Grey Wolves" are the largest right-wing extremist organization in Germany with 18,500 members, the match is now classified as a high-risk game.
Big underdog
Turkey will be the big underdog. Not only are they missing a third player in Demiral alongside Orkun Kökcü and Ismail Yüksek, who are suspended for yellow cards. Thanks to their convincing 3-0 win over Romania in the round of 16, the Netherlands will also go into their quarter-final clash in a stronger position.
In the first knockout match, the Netherlands, who were harshly criticized at home after their 3-2 defeat to Austria, showed a great improvement on their mixed performances in the group stage. One problem remained the exploitation of chances. Cody Gakpo and Co. missed numerous opportunities. "We're getting better. Some pieces of the puzzle are still missing, but we'll get there," said the Liverpool striker reassuringly.
The possible line-ups:
Netherlands - Turkey
Berlin. - Saturday, 21.00 hrs. - Ref Turpin (FRA).
Netherlands: 1 Verbruggen; 22 Dumfries, 6 De Vrij, 4 Van Dijk, 5 Aké; 24 Schouten, 14 Reijnders; 18 Malen, 7 Simons, 11 Gakpo; 10 Depay.
Turkey: 1 Günok; 18 Müldür, 4 Akaydin, 14 Bardakci, 20 Kadioglu; 22 Ayhan, 15 Özcan; 8 Güler, 10 Calhanoglu, 19 Yildiz; 21 Yilmaz.
Comments: Turkey without Demiral, Kökcü and Yüksek (all suspended).
SDA
