TURKEY coach Fatih Terim is backing his youngsters to flourish in the biggest match of their lives when they face Germany in tonight's Euro 2008 semi-final in Basle.
With as many as eight of his players sidelined because of injury or suspension, Terim will be forced to rely on less experienced players, such as London-born forward Colin Kazim-Richards, at St Jakob-Park.
The wily Germans may be in the driving se
at when it comes to experience and know-how in big matches but Terim does not believe that counts for everything.
"Before coming here, many people were asking whether experience or hunger was the most important thing," the former AC Milan coach said. "My players may be inexperienced but they are definitely hungry. With Kazim, I have been putting him in the team since the beginning – he can control his excitement. Experience is important, but dynamism from players is just as important and can benefit the team."
Former Bury, Brighton and Sheffield United man Kazim-Richards, 21, and his team-mates may be unheralded names in the football world but they have certainly caught the public's imagination over the past few weeks.
Turkey scored last-minute winners in their final two pool games, against Switzerland and the Czech Republic, to squeeze out of Group A. And in their quarter-final against Croatia they grabbed an equaliser in the dying seconds of extra-time – just a minute after falling behind – before going through on penalties.
The Turks' last-gasp heroics have arguably been the highlight of the championships, and Terim believes people will be talking about his team long after the conclusion of the tournament.
"One of the things we said before we came here was that we wanted to remind the football world of Turkey," he said.
"Everyone, whether they are football fans or not, is talking about Turkey. In four years' time, people will think of Turkey in the sense that we have succeeded.
"But neither myself nor my players believe we have completed what we set out to do. At the beginning of the tournament, not many people knew them (the players) but now people are taking their hats off to them. We are playing with our minds and our hearts." Terim will be without suspended quartet Tuncay Sanli, Arda Turan, Volkan Demirel and Emre Asik, while Nihat Kahveci, Emre Gungor, Servet Cetin and Emre Belozoglu are injured.
Tumer Metin was expected to be sidelined as well but Terim revealed the Larissa midfielder should be able to play "30 minutes at most". Meanwhile Michael Ballack's lung-busting performances for Germany at Euro 2008 can be directly attributed to the Chelsea midfielder's experience of playing in the Barclays Premier League, according to national team coach Joachim Low.
Statistically, Ballack has been one of the players who has covered the most ground in the European Championship, and his displays have been vital in helping Germany reach the last four.
Ballack joined Chelsea from Bayern Munich in 2006 and Low believes the midfielder's fitness levels are noticeably better since he switched to England.
"Michael Ballack in the past few matches has really run a great deal and in the last two years he has played in the Premier League he's had excellent progress physically – we noticed that when he joined us with the national squad in Germany," said Low.
"Physically speaking, he developed nicely playing in the Premier League because they play fast-paced football at a high-intensity. So, at the moment, he is in very good physical shape and he is capable of doing long runs in a match and at high speed."
