Watching Turkey with tunnel vision

Reporting on Turkey for UEFA EURO 2008™ would be a dream job for any fan of Fatih Terim's side and for euro2008.com correspondent Yakir Mizrahi, it is no exception. Living the highs and lows with the Turkey squad over the course of the past three breathtaking weeks has been an unforgettable experience and Yakir has been at the heart of it, interviewing the players and Terim himself, attending press conferences and training sessions and clocking up the miles on their incredible journey from Geneva to Basel, Basel to Geneva, Geneva to Vienna and now back to Basel again for Wednesday's semi-final against Germany.

Goalless
There is, however, one crucial thing fans back home have seen more of than Yakir: goals. One of Yakir's duties as Turkey correspondent is to go down to the flash zone ten minutes before the end of each match to prepare for the post-match interviews that are conducted as the players come off the pitch. As the clock ticks down at each game, Yakir diligently leaves his seat in the stand and makes his way down to the tunnel to wait for the players. As a result, the man closest to the team has missed every one of Turkey's dramatic late goals en route to the semi-final. "I have had so many different emotions in the tunnel at the end of those games," said Yakir. "Each time I waited for the players thinking I was about to go home, but then each time they turned the game around so quickly. But it's not a problem missing the goals, just as long as Turkey keep on winning."

Nihat heroics
Against Switzerland the score was 1-1 when Yakir made his way to the tunnel. Then Arda Turan hit the winning goal in added time and the post-match interviews took on a whole new complexion. Against the Czech Republic he was waiting microphone in hand as Turkey pulled off one of the most remarkable recoveries of any UEFA European Championship to win 3-2. Yakir missed both of Nihat Kahveci's goals – there wasn't even a monitor in the flash zone. It was the same story in the quarter-final against Croatia when Semih Şentürk scored with the last kick of the game to force a shoot-out. Not only had Yakir missed one of the the most dramatic endings to a game ever, but of course he also missed the shoot-out.

'Great spirit'
"I was with the doctor of the Turkey team and the press officers in the tunnel," Yakir said. "We did not celebrate when Croatia missed their penalties, only when Rüştü [Reçber] made his final save. Our players have such a great spirit, they never give up. Congratulating them on their success during the interviews after each game is a very nice part of the job. It has been a great experience being here and I can understand fans maybe being jealous of my job, but at least they get to see the goals."

Superstitious
Superstitious Turkish fans might suggest that given their team only seem to score when Yakir is in the tunnel, he should be down there from the start of each match, not just the final ten minutes. For Yakir, though, it will be business as usual at St. Jakob-Park on Wednesday. "I have to watch 80 minutes from the stands," he said. "Otherwise you don't get the atmosphere of the EURO and the sense of the match. It would be nice if Turkey scored earlier, though." So keep an eye on the press box when 80 minutes are up. As we all now know, the drama only really begins when Yakir leaves his seat.

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