GROUP C / TURKEY

*--* World Cup record: Played 3 (1-2-0); goals for: 10; goals against: 11 Best finish: Never beyond the first round 1998 showing: Did not qualify Coach: Senol Gunes. A fan of military analogies, whose spoutings include: “Everyone’s a captain, everyone’s a general. The team will be a good army, and when the time comes they will battle.” Players to watch: Hakan Sukur, Yildiray Basturk, Alpay Ozalan In brief: It was in 1954 that the Turks last played in the World Cup, but the success of their club teams in Europe in recent seasons has improved the lot of the national team, which reached the European Championship quarterfinals in 2000. Accomplished goal scorer Sukur, the so-called “Bull of the Bosphorus,” who scored six goals during qualifying, holds the key to the second round Quick quote: “I feel like a bomb ready to explode.”--Ozalan Forecast: A second-place finish behind Brazil is expected. Anything less would be a failure

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