Friday 15 / November / 2024
Nice: Turkey coach Fatih Terim accused his team of throwing in the towel in their chastening 3-0 loss to holders Spain at the European Championship on Friday.
The Turks suffered their second successive defeat in Group D and must win their final match against the Czech Republic to have a realistic chance of reaching the second round.
"Today our national team threw in the towel," Terim told a news conference.
"You can be sure that I will never accept this. On behalf of my team I am deeply upset. I will do the necessary thing."
Turkey captain Arda Turan struggled to influence the game and was loudly booed by his own fans.
"It was not good to see Arda booed by our fans," Terim said.
"No coach would want to be in that situation. Arda is one of our most important players. This should not happen. Nobody deserves it. The way they booed Arda had an impact on our team."
Spain's Andres Iniesta orchestrated his team's victory with another superbly efficient display of midfield prompting and he offered support for Turan, his Barcelona team mate.
"It is a difficult situation for a player to experience the whistles of your own fans," man-of-the-match Iniesta said.
"It leaves a bad taste in the mouth for me and for Arda. I know he is a player of great talent and it is not an easy situation for him. I wished him all the best for the rest of the tournament."
Terim bemoaned the individual errors that cost his team dear, including a woeful header by Mehmet Topal which presented Nolito with a simple chance to score Spain's second goal shortly before halftime.
"We conceded two goals by individual mistakes. One of them was unbelievable," Terim said.
"I congratulate Spain. They are a very important team, a special team," Terim added.
"First 30 minutes it was ok but afterwards we didn't play well. Conceding the second goal made it very difficult for us. After conceding the third goal we fell apart."
