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The Turkey Insider | Turkey cries – and laughs at Kuntz’ line-up – FOOTBALL INTERNATIONAL

It’s already the end of March and once again I haven’t had to worry about what I’m going to write this month.

Because “unfortunately” events that probably happen in Germany within a year can be observed in Turkey within almost just a week.

The suspension of Mesut Özil at Fenerbahce, for example. Or the negotiations for a TV contract for the league. But maybe another time…

Today is about our national team. On March 24th in Portugal she played the playoff game for participation in the World Cup.

A week before the game, Stefan Kuntz gave interviews to some Turkish media, which is totally extraordinary for us. We had nothing to lose against Portugal and we had the strength and courage to surprise, he boasted.

In short: Kuntz was full of self-confidence. All of us, the whole of Turkey, was on the move. Stefan Kuntz will get the job done, we thought. And so we looked forward to the game. The teams were announced and we suffered our first shock. Kuntz really opted for a triple chain in defence.

It is very likely that only viewers over 60 can remember the last games of the national team with a 3-man defense. To make such a vital decision in such an important game was a shot in the foot, I think. Actually, Kuntz owed it to the back four to reach the playoffs.

What is also strange: instead of Ozan Kabak, Kuntz wanted to use Serdar Aziz in the first eleven. But Serdar didn’t want to play in this system.

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The assistant coaches wanted to see Dorukhan in central midfield because he is tougher and more resilient. But Kuntz probably wanted to be creative – Orkun Kökçü came on the field.

So if you ask me, we lost the game because of Kuntz’s selection for central midfield. There was also no sign of the Çalhanoğlu-Kökçü team in central midfield.

And deploying Galatasaray six-man Berkan Kutlu at left-back was also a quick trending topic on social media. Was Berkan von Kuntz really invited to the national team as a left-back, not because Ferdi was injured.

This choice is still laughed at today.

And now to the game…

Portugal were in control throughout the game and we didn’t have a say in the game. They scored two goals and missed another 7 to 8. We couldn’t even get close to the opponent’s goal.

Portugal were probably playing one of their most enjoyable games until Burak Yılmaz’s goal came, a huge coincidence. So they panicked.

If Burak had converted the penalty in the 85th minute, we might still be on our way to the World Cup. But Burak missed.

And so we were eliminated…

Stefan Kuntz learned something from Portugal’s games against Ireland and Serbia, which cost Portugal points.

Ireland and Serbia played three-man defense in those games, snatching the points from Portugal. Until then all good. Except these teams played all qualifiers with this system, that’s the difference.

So in my opinion Kuntz was completely wrong with the idea “if they can do it, we can do it too”.

Importing a system takes years, nothing works with just one game.

Kuntz gambled something and lost this game. Thanks to his decisions in Turkey, he is currently the focus of all criticism.

“We had more chances than Portugal. My team played brilliantly in the second half. We can only be proud of this team,” he said after the game, unbelievably.

Even respected authorities laughed about it and all thought to themselves: “We must have been watching a different game.”

Well, dear Stefan, Portugal shouldn’t have had it that easy with us.

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