Turkey stand tall after painful loss

Turkey were full of pride despite the 3-2 defeat against Germany which ended their UEFA EURO 2008™ dream, with Uğur Boral saying: "We lost but we were the better side."

'I feel proud'
Despite being decimated by injuries and suspensions, Fatih Terim's men took the game to Germany in the first semi-final in Basel, but were finally undone by Philipp Lahm's late goal. Fenerbahçe SK winger Uğur, who had given Turkey a 22nd-minute lead, spoke for many when he said: "We lost but we were the better side. I feel very proud to have been part of such a successful team. Turkish people have to applaud these players."

Final hurrah
Rüştü Reçber could only agree. "I am proud of each of my team-mates," he told euro2008.com. "Everybody in Turkey should get behind them because this team can achieve a lot." The semi-final was the goalkeeper's 118th and last appearance for Turkey, but while his blunder may have allowed Miroslav Klose to head Germany's second of the night, he bowed out with no regrets. "I am ending my international career, where I served with pride, glory and honour for 14 years," he said. "I would like to thank everybody who has helped me."

'Amazing time'
Rüştü's Beşiktaş JK team-mate Gökhan Zan was equally distraught and defiant after the final whistle. "We were very passionate, brave and courageous," he said. "There was a strong team spirit between the players who played and those who didn't. Anyone would be lucky to have such friends with such a team spirit. We have had an amazing time over the last 45 to 50 days. We were never bored. We wanted to go a step further but unfortunately this wasn't possible. But I believe that all the people in Turkey and Europe are proud of us.

Talking point
"We didn't deserve to lose," he added. "If we look at the statistics we had more possession and more shots on goal, but it wasn't much of a help. I'm sure that people in Europe will be talking about us. We were a fantastic team and we played an excellent game. We have to focus on the future. On the one hand we're happy and on the other sad; happy, because for the first time we made it to the semi-final, sad because we lost a game in which we played so well."

Proud send-off
Galatasaray AS midfielder Ayhan Akman made his first appearance of UEFA EURO 2008™ against Germany, becoming the 22nd member of Terim's 23-man squad to take the field, and is proud that Turkey have left an impressive calling card ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. "Tonight we proved that we don't have to feel small in comparison to the other teams here," he said. "We wanted to play in the final and lift the trophy but although we were the better team, we couldn't do it."

from euro.com