Portugal open up with Turkey test

As beaten finalists on home soil four years ago Portugal will hope to go one better at UEFA EURO 2008™, but standing in their way of a winning start in Geneva are a Turkey side no doubt relishing the return to the international spotlight after six years in the shadows.

• Turkey have not appeared at a major tournament since the 2002 FIFA World Cup, when their surprise run to the semi-finals was ended by a Brazil side coached by Luiz Felipe Scolari, the man now in charge of their opening opponents in Geneva.

• If that is a positive omen for Portuguese fans, they might also note that the Selecção won the countries' two previous meetings in UEFA European Championship final tournaments. Portugal were 1-0 winners against Turkey in the group stage at EURO '96™, where Fernando Couto's 66th-minute goal undid a side coached by Fatih Terim, then in his first spell as Turkey coach.

• Portugal repeated the feat four years later in the UEFA EURO 2000™ quarter-finals, Nuno Gomes getting both goals (44 and 56 minutes) in a 2-0 win against a Turkey side reduced to ten men by Alpay Özalan's 30th-minute red card.

• The teams for that 2000 meeting in Amsterdam were:
Turkey: Rüstü Reçber, Tayfur Havutçu, Ogün Temizkanoglu (Sergen Yalçın), Fatih Akyel, Alpay Özalan, Arif Erdem (Suat Kaya), Okan Buruk (Oktay Derelioglu), Hakan Şükür, Tayfun Korkut, Ergün Penbe, Hakan Ünsal

Portugal: Vítor Baía, Dimas, Jorge Costa, Fernando Couto, Sérgio Conceição, Costinha (Paulo Sousa), Paulo Bento, Luís Figo, Rui Costa (Capucho), João Pinto, Nuno Gomes (Sá Pinto).

• Overall, Portugal have won the countries' last five contests with Turkey's sole success coming in the first of their six meetings, a 3-1 victory in an Istanbul friendly in 1955. Future Galatasaray AS and Turkey coach Coşkun Özarı made his international debut in the match.

• This is Portugal's fourth successive appearance in the UEFA European Championship finals and their fifth overall. Their best performance came at UEFA EURO 2004™, where they finished runners-up after losing the final 1-0 to Greece in Lisbon. They had previously reached the semi-finals of the 1984 and 2000 tournaments.

• Turkey are appearing among Europe's élite for the third time. Their previous appearances came in 1996 and 2000 with their quarter-final run in the latter event their best showing to date.

• Portugal and Turkey both reached the FIFA World Cup semi-finals on their last appearance at a major tournament, Portugal in 2006 and Turkey four years earlier, when they took third place in Korea/Japan.

• Luiz Felipe Scolari's Portugal advanced to Austria/Switzerland as the second-placed team in Group A behind Poland, securing their UEFA EURO 2008™ berth by holding Finland 0-0 in Porto in their last qualifier. Their record in qualifying was W7 D6 L1.

• Turkey qualified as the second-placed team in Group C behind Greece. Nihat Kahveci made sure of their place in Austria/Switzerland with the solitary strike against Bosnia-Herzegovina in their concluding qualifier as Terim's team finished with a record of W7 D3 L2.

• Scolari's Brazil team defeated Turkey 1-0 through a goal from Ronaldo in the 2002 World Cup semi-final in Saitama, Japan.

• Portugal striker Nuno Gomes worked under Turkey coach Terim at Serie A club ACF Fiorentina in 2000/01.

• Tuncay Şanlı struck twice in Turkey's 4-2 triumph at home to Portugal in a UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifier in October 2002.

• This is the 13th edition of the UEFA European Championship and the eighth edition that features a final tournament with a group phase.